5 takeaways as Jayson Tatum’s late heroics raise Celtics over Wizards – Boston.com

COMMENTARY

The Boston Celtics battled back to defeat a streaking Washington Wizards team and claim their second win in a row on Sunday — a 111-110 thriller.

The big picture

In a familiar scene, the Celtics once again frittered away a double-digit lead in the second half and ceded control to the Wizards. But rather than folding down the stretch, Boston continued to fight back. Jayson Tatum’s go-ahead basket with four seconds remaining gave the Celtics a one-point lead, and Boston chased Bradley Beal into the corner and trapped him on Washington’s final shot attempt to claim the victory.

Star of the game

Jayson Tatum — 31 points, 12-for-22 shooting.

Tatum looked healthier and more energetic, and his baskets down the stretch were as clutch as they come — he hit four shots in the final 1:33, including a turn-around jumper and three baskets in the paint that included the eventual game-winner.

Boston overcame the lack of Jaylen Brown largely thanks to Tatum and Walker, whose eight assists were important, but Tatum’s heroics were particularly crucial.

What it means

The Wizards aren’t the best team in the NBA, but entering Sunday’s contest, they were one of the hottest — winners of seven of their last eight. Beating a team that hot is an achievement, and the Celtics overcame two of their biggest issues — a cold stretch in the second half, and an opposing superstar going off.

Now the Celtics are back to .500 and have a little momentum. If they can split two tough games against the Los Angeles Clippers and an improved Toronto Raptors squad, they can stay there with a little life entering the All-Star break.

Takeaways

1. Here’s a look at Tatum’s go-ahead basket.

BIG SHOT TATUM. pic.twitter.com/NCbeza8SWg

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 1, 2021

The play itself was pretty broken, but Tatum made the best of it — beating Beal with a quick drop step out of the post and scoring around a challenging defender.

Tatum in the post is deadly when he works out of it — according to the NBA’s stats, he is averaging 1.56 points per possession on 0.6 post-up plays per game. The game-winner might not completely classify as a post-up, but Tatum started with his back to the basket and made a slick move to leave Beal in his tracks.

“It’s just a feel for the game,” Tatum said when asked about his final layup postgame. “It’s just something that you feel, use your instincts, be reactive. I’m 22 and I’ve been playing basketball since I was three, so a lot of practice in that sense. There’s a lot of games I’ve played.”

2. Opponent stars and cold streaks continue to hurt the Celtics. Boston’s offense went icy cold for a stretch spanning the late third and early fourth quarter, and the Wizards took control of the game. Boston battled back thanks in large part to a stretch of brilliance by Daniel Theis, but once again, the hill the Celtics were forced to climb was steep.

Digging out of that hole was encouraging, but the Celtics needed a little luck and a lot of clutch, which isn’t really something they can count on.

“It’s something we can build on,” Tatum said. “Obviously we made some big plays, got some key stops, and we just stuck with it and it turned in our favor. Hopefully we can continue to build on this.”

3. With Jaylen Brown out, the Celtics were forced to rely on lineups with Kemba Walker on the floor without Brown, Tatum or Marcus Smart — lineups that were a disaster last season.

This season, however, they have been a little better despite Walker’s struggles early. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Celtics outscored teams by 3.1 points per 100 possessions with Walker on the floor by himself (of Boston’s stars) in 127 possessions. Those numbers will probably rise a bit — Walker finished +4, while posting 21 points.

“Kemba’s a good playmaker and then with all the other guys, they get so much attention,” Theis said. “If we keep moving the ball, it’s so hard for teams to guard us. Today was my moment in the third quarter. I had the wide-open shots. I think four times in a row, they didn’t guard me at all so but also just as a team, we move the ball, it’s so hard to guard when we have Kemba, JT, JB, whoever’s out there, we have so many guys who can make plays for each other. That’s what we need. We’ve just got to play our way of basketball.”

4. Tatum has a lot of poster slams for someone who isn’t particularly bouncy. His latest was a beauty: A one-handed second-quarter smash over Robin Lopez, followed by a friendly pat on the backend for his long-time friend Bradley Beal.

yikkkessss 😳 pic.twitter.com/VJFGyietS8

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 1, 2021

Part of the reason for Tatum’s posters is his usage — he has the ball in his hands a lot, which means he drives to the basket a lot. But he’s also very smooth and very confident, which boosts him as well.

Tatum was asked if he’s reconsidering an appearance in the dunk contest. He chuckled.

“Nah, I mean if you watched the last game I tried to dunk and I got stuffed by the rim,” Tatum said. “So I had to make up for that.”

5. Here’s your nightly Rob Williams highlight.

Robert Williams took flight ✈️ pic.twitter.com/7ggF2cdNy4

— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 1, 2021

Rob can certainly leap.