Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Jrue Holiday were the first teammates to have ever logged at least 25 points and three steals apiece (h/t SI's Taylor Snow) in a playoff game during the Boston Celtics' 133-128 Game 1 win over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tatum had 36 points, Brown had 26 points, and Holiday had 28 points. Brown's 3-pointer with seconds left in the fourth quarter forced overtime in a game it looked like the Celtics were going to lose. Luckily, on an inbounds pass with 10 seconds left, Pascal Siakam touched the ball out of bounds on a play that likely would've been called out on Brown.
Tatum's 3-pointer that put the Cs up 127-123 with 42.8 seconds left on the clock in overtime was the dagger in Indiana's heart.
Jayson Tatum beginning to stave off ridiculous 'not clutch' narratives for Boston Celtics
NBA talking heads are going to be empty without the ridiculous anti-Tatum discourse after Game 1. Even during the game, many tried to share the "LUHVGO" dancing Tatum memes, but No. 0 gave them zero credibility with his star performance.
Even without Kristaps Porzingis for the first couple games of the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston is heavily favored to knock off Indiana. A Game 1 loss would've caused the greatest overreaction ever seen in playoff history.
Some will likely hold it against the Celtics that they didn't cover the spread and needed overtime to put down the Pacers, but that's disregarding the momentum Indiana created with their Game 7 Eastern Conference Semifinals win against the New York Knicks at MSG.
A legacy was not saved on May 21. It was cemented. Tatum's legend has grown, as has Brown's, and the Celtics are closing in on their second Finals appearance of the post-Big Three era with the win.