Jayson Tatum delivered in the clutch Wednesday night as the Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 122-121 in the teams' season opener at TD Garden.
The Celtics forward dropped 30 points, the final three of which came on a bank-shot 3-pointer with less than one second remaining.
Nick Wright wasn't overly impressed by the game-winning basket, though, and explained Thursday on FOX Sports 1's "First Things First" why it's disingenuous to consider the shot evidence of Tatum's stardom or, at the very least, a bigger deal than Giannis Antetokounmpo's subsequent missed free throw attempt down the other end.
"Here's the real take: That was an egregious miss (by Tatum) -- that was missed so badly, it went in. That's the answer," Wright said. "So, like, what's the bigger deal? Giannis missed a free throw barely. Tatum missed his shot by four feet -- so badly that it banked in. Because here is what I know: He was not trying to bank this in.
" ... Listen, the win counts and the Celtics feel good. But that's not a good shot. And it's not that it's a bad shot because it was contested or anything. It's a bad shot because he missed it by three and a half feet."
Wright has a point, as even Tatum admitted after the game he wasn't trying to hit glass on his step-back trey. Nevertheless, the ball tickled the twine and Boston walked away victorious. What else can you ask for?
It's better to win ugly than not win at all.
