BOSTON — The first half of Game 5 was ugly. The Boston Celtics were out of sync, out of rhythm, and out of order. Rebounds were falling right by their faces and into the arms of the Orlando Magic, and they turned the ball over nine times in the first half alone. Then, Jayson Tatum happened.
Tatum was already cooking in the first half. As almost all of his teammates fumbled their way through the offense, Tatum enjoyed a 16-point, three-rebound, six-assist first half on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Everything was working in perfect order for the Celtics superstar, yet Boston still found itself down two at halftime.
The third quarter was magic.
Jayson Tatum lifted Celtics to Game 5 win over Magic
Tatum exploded, pouring in 13 points as Boston trampled foul-troubled Paolo Banchero’s Magic squad, who couldn’t have bought a basket had a street vendor walked up to them with a 90% off coupon.
He made three triples, snagging three boards and dishing out three assists in the midst of his impressive quarter, all while slowly ending the Magic’s season.
“He did a good job of understanding how they were defending,” Joe Mazzulla said of Tatum. “Every team has different strengths and weaknesses. Every team guards us differently. I thought the regular season gave us tremendous data on the different ways that we were going to be defended and what that looks like.”
Orlando made it their mission to bully the Celtics this series. ‘NO EASY BUCKETS’ may as well have been painted across their chests where the word ‘MAGIC’ lay.
In Game 3, this physicality took the Celtics out of their rhythm. The usual clean decisions that have defined their offensive success for the past two years were thrown out of the window in favor of slow-paced possessions ending in forced shots.
But for the last two games, Tatum’s completely defied those failures.
“He did a great job of staying patient [and] going through his progressions,” Mazzulla said of Tatum’s Game 5 performance. “Whether it was him screening in the first couple games, him handling the last few games, and in this game, in third quarter, his play there.
“So at the end of the day, every game is different. Every team is different. You have to be ready to enter the call, play solution-oriented basketball, and I thought he did that.”
Last year, Tatum's playoff inefficiencies rang loud, stealing headlines despite his immense impact. In Game 5, he delivered the impact with the efficiency to back it up.
Tatum finished the game with 35 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists. He shot 11-of-16 from the field, 4-of-5 from three-point range, and a perfect 11-of-11 from the free-throw line.
For the second game in a row, Tatum went nuclear when the Celtics needed him most, and he did it by slowing down the game and taking what Orlando gave him.
Nothing fancy. Just basketball.