BOSTON — To Marcus Smart, it felt like a Hollywood script played out for Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.
Tatum’s performance was that perfect and that epic.
“It’s like a big movie,” Smart told reporters in the locker room following a 112-88 lopsided victory for the Celtics in Game 7, per MassLive’s Brian Robb.
Jaylen Brown was just as amazed by what unfolded as well, believing that Tatum’s new signature shoes might hold some superpowers in them as if they were from the movie “Like Mike.”
“Way to step up. Great performance by Jayson,” Brown said. “I think everybody should go buy some of the new JTs that he just dropped, for sure. He did his thing tonight.”
There could be absolutely no argument about that. Tatum torched the 76ers by scoring an NBA Game 7 record 51 points off 17-of-28 shooting from the floor to go along with 13 rebounds, two assists and zero turnovers. After scoring 25 points in the first half, the 25-year-old caught fire in the third quarter, splashing in four of his six 3-pointers in the frame as the Celtics blew things open by outscoring the 76ers, 33-10, in the stanza.
And for Brown, it was pretty easy to ascertain what changed in that quarter: the Celtics got defensive stops and Tatum took over.
“JT got it going and get out of that man’s way,” Brown said. “He just got it rolling and there was nothing they could do to stop (him). They started trying to double team and it just gave open looks to other guys. When JT’s playing like that, we’re going to be extremely hard to beat.”
It has been a rollercoaster of a series up to this point for Tatum. He scored just three points and missed 12-of-13 shots through three quarters in Game 6 before coming alive in the final minutes of regulation to help the Celtics stave off elimination.
Tatum made sure there was no dramatics this time around, asserting himself from the very beginning until he came out in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand. And there was no denying from his teammates that Game 7 belonged to him.
“It was so remarkable what he was able to do tonight in a Game 7,” Horford told reporters, per Robb. “That’s what special players do.”
