Jayson Tatum Buried His First Game Winner Of The Year And TOTALLY Redeemed Himself

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

After two days rest playing the 2-10 Toronto Raptors on a back to back, the Boston Celtics had no business being in a dogfight tonight. On paper, that's a game you pencil in the starters not having to play the fourth quarter. In reality, they were in a battle to the death with one of the worst teams in the league. We'll have a full breakdown of everything in the morning like always, but we first need to take a moment and talk through the first game winner of Jayson Tatum's MVP caliber season.

Another night where everyone seemed determined to miss every single wide open look Tatum created for them, the Raptors were able to hang around. After Tatum's terrific defense on Jakob Poetlt in the final seconds, the Celts had the ball for the final shot of regulation with a chance to walk off with a win.

What transpired, was horrific

I mean, Tatum was not even remotely close on that midrange. This is why I never understand why people cry about Tatum's 3PA and say he needs more midrange. No, he does not. He's never shot over 40% on midranges in his entire career. He's not Kevin Durant. In these situations, give me a Tatum stepback 3PA over a midrange every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I believe this so much so, that I tweeted it out right after that awful Tatum miss

Fast forward to another terrific late game defensive stop, this time with Queta blocking RJ Barrett at the rim, and Tatum once again had the ball and a chance to end this game. What did he go with this time? See for yourself

I have no idea how Jaylen Brown doesn't get that call, but thank god the refs let that one go! Talk about a broken play, but in those moments it's not about how you make the bucket, it's about if you made the bucket. Once I saw Tatum go up for that three I knew it was cash, because I knew the Basketball Gods would reward him for how selfless he was on the way to his 24/11/9. That easily should have been 14-15 AST if guys just made open looks, so this play just goes to show that if you consistently play the right way, you will be rewarded.

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For Tatum, it's a big make for a guy that definitely needed a loud game winner on his resume. People forget that he's actually in reality one of the best game winning shot makers since he entered the NBA. But the way he's talked about, you'd never know it. Well now all the haters and losers of which there are many can do is suck it. 

NBA Champion Jayson Tatum makes game winners. Sure it bailed them out from what would have been a HORRIFIC loss, but last time I checked winning ugly is still winning. Now we prepare for the Cavs on Tuesday.

See everyone in the morning. Enjoy rewatching that shot all night!