Today, Celtics star Jayson Tatum is in the spotlight. Context: There was no shortage of excitement in Game 1 between the Celtics and the Nets. The Celtics took a double-digit lead in the final quarter, but Kyrie Irving came alive to get the Nets back into the game. Irving scored 18 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and scored a three-pointer with 45.9 seconds left to give the Nets a three-point lead. Jaylen Brown responded with a dunk, laying the groundwork for a wild finish with Jayson Tatum running secretly behind the Nets to score a layup that wins the buzzer game. How did the Nets lose track of the Tatum of all people? Let’s take a closer look. NBA LEAGUE PASS: Sign up to unlock live games off the market (free 7 day trial) The play: WINNER OF THE TATUM GAME 🥶 pic.twitter.com/BMqJYiolNt – NBA at TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 17, 2022 Analysis: Al Horford restores a lost three-pointer by Kevin Durand and quickly passes the ball to Derrick White, who then passes it to Brown. With the clock ticking, Brown wastes no time in attacking the basket, passing the junior Goran Dragic and gaining an extra defender in Bruce Brown. Bruce Brown’s double prevents Jaylen Brown from reaching the edge, but Jaylen Brown stops quietly and spins in the opposite direction. Now is the time to take stock of who the Nets are all defending. Irving has White on the right wing, Durand raises Tatum at the top of the perimeter, Nicholas Claxton is at Horford in the lower block and Dragic stays with Jalen Brown. Bruce Brown? He parks himself in the paint in case Jaylen Brown tries to attack again. This means that no one is protecting Smart, who makes himself as big a target as possible by shaking his hands. Locating Smart, who scored 20 points in a 4-on-9 shot from a range of 3 points on it, out of the corner of his eye, Brown throws the ball out. That equates not one, but two defenders to Bruce Brown and Claxton. Smart is not enough for the shot. Instead, he throws Brown and Claxton in the air with a fake and dribbles to the basket. This is where it gets interesting. Not wanting Smart to move in a straight line or Horford to roll in the paint, Dragic spins on Brown. White moves to the right corner, but Irving helps up there. The Nets should be in a decent position, but … they forget Tatum. Both Dragic and Irving are focused on the ball and Durant loses his eyes on Tatum when he makes a cut to the basket. Smart passes it to Tatum, Tatum spins around Irving and puts the ball inside to give the Celtics victory over the buzzer. Why it matters: Some things. First, the obvious: Boston won a monster game over Irving and led 1-0. Games like this can end up being the difference in a series. Two, great patience from Smart. As Draymond Green noted after the game, the old Smart may have compromised with a controversial three-pointer, but the new Smart wore the point guard hat. And there is a difference in the Celtics team. Last year, Marcus Smart would have taken this photo. Ime got him to buy and become the Marcus smart that everyone loved from Ok State. BEAUTIFUL! Looks like a real PG again! This is what made Him special! – Draymond Green (@ Money23Green) April 17, 2022 Even Tatum, who was a teammate of Smart for five seasons, thought he would shoot it. “We all thought Smart would shoot it,” Tatum said after the game. “Well, last minute shot, he just smashed the glass … But when he made that dribble, we made eye contact and he made a great pass and I just had to do a lay-up.” Third, the winner of the Tatum match will get a lot of attention, but he should not overshadow the last Boston stand. The Celtics finished the season with the best defensive score in the league. Even without Robert Williams, who was also the Defensive Player of the Year and a candidate for everything in defense, they have the intelligence, the length and the flexibility to fit in and be upset with almost anyone. They put it on full display in possession before. Smart put pressure on Irving while Horford left Bruce Brown to double him. (Do you think the Celtics wanted to take the ball away from him?) Durand accepted the ball with 4.0 seconds left on the clock, which is usually enough time to create something, but Tatum defended it perfectly, forcing him in a hard-fought 3-point effort. It does not get much better than this: @Celtics was the # 1 defense in the NBA during the regular season and showed it in the last defensive possession of Game 1. Watch the full series that leads to Jayson Tatum’s #TissotBuzzerBeater to win it! pic.twitter.com/c9CU2akJ4Y – NBA (@NBA) April 17, 2022 Tatum, by the way, was not only not very aggressive, he finished with 31 points and scored the layup that wins the game. He helped the Celtics limit Durant to 23 points with a 9-for-24 shot from the pitch. There are not many players in the league today who can influence the game at both ends to the level that Tatum can. It’s just a game, but the Celtics have shown why they are a legitimate contender to leave the Eastern Conference.
