Jayson Tatum Addresses ‘Weird’ Ending To Celtics-Cavs Thriller

For a moment Tuesday night, it looked like Jayson Tatum was going to have a chance to extend the Celtics’ win streak from the free-throw line.

After the Cavaliers stormed back from 22 points down in the fourth quarter at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Tatum took possession for Boston and drained the clock with an eye on a potential game-winner. The All-Star forward took it down to roughly one second of regulation before pulling up over Darius Garland, who was called for a foul with 0.7 ticks to go.

Had the call stood, Tatum could have buried two from the charity stripe and prevented the visitors from suffering an embarrassing loss. But the referees ultimately overturned their ruling, which effectively sealed a 105-104 Cleveland win.

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After the game, which marked the Celtics’ first loss since Feb. 1, Tatum opened up about the unusual final sequence.

“It was unfortunate. I thought I got fouled but they didn’t think I got fouled and it’s tough because we got — we would have had the tip in,” Tatum told reporters, per MassLive. “Just a weird way to end the game but they always say the game isn’t won or lost on the last play. There’s a lot of things that we didn’t do well, in that fourth quarter that put us in that position.”

Both Joe Mazzulla and Jaylen Brown were more critical of Boston after the game. Brown bemoaned the Celtics taking their foot off the gas pedal too early, while Mazzulla lamented Boston’s slow pace on its final possession.

The C’s will try to bounce back on the road Thursday night when they visit the Denver Nuggets for a potential NBA Finals preview.