Jayson Tatum was five minutes away from having the worst summer in the NBA.
The Celtics’ superstar, who had been named first-team All-NBA just one day prior, put together what might have been the worst 43 minutes of his basketball career Thursday night. In a do-or-die Game 6 against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center, Tatum had contributed just seven points on 1-for-15 shooting and turned the ball over four times.
Then, something snapped.
Tatum went on to make four of his next five shots, all from three-point range, to help the Celtics pull away from the 76ers and force a Game 7 back at TD Garden. He scored 16 points in the final frame, more than Philadelphia’s entire team, and snatched a victory away from the clutches of defeat.
The explosion seemed to come out of nowhere, but Tatum admitted to receiving a spark from Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
“Go get the (expletive) ball,” Mazzulla told Tatum prior to the explosive final five minutes, per Jay King of The Athletic.
That demand from Mazzulla seemed to change not only outcome of Tatum’s night, but the mindset Boston’s superstar played with. It was known coming into the game that he’d have a big role on the offensive and defensive end, and he was more than serviceable in his quest to shut down the likes of Joel Embiid and James Harden. The 25-year-old had nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the game, but was completely discombobulated offensively.
At one point, Tatum sprinted up the floor on a fast break, pulled up from behind the arc despite having a one-on-one at the rim, thought better of the shot and fired the ball behind himself directly into the waiting arms of Harden. That play was emblematic of why Tatum was struggling. There was a lack of confidence and belief in himself. The Celtics star normally drips with confidence in his own game, and plays with the physicality and swagger to show it.
Mazzulla’s statement changed something, though, turning Tatum from someone who played like they were shaken by their own struggles to a man who put the nail in the Sixers’ coffin and turned around to let everyone know about it.
“I had 43 minutes of them telling me how bad I was,” Tatum said, per King. “So it kind of felt good to see everybody getting out they seat and leaving early in that moment.”
