Jayson Tatum has spent years showing he can beat teams in more ways than one, and against the Philadelphia 76ers he added another highlight to the list. In the third quarter, the Boston Celtics star delivered a moment that brought back echoes of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals, this time with LeBron James on the wrong end of the play.
The game had plenty going on around it. The chatter before tipoff centered on the supposed feud between Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and the matchup also carried the weight of being the most-played series in league history when regular season and playoffs are combined. But the collision between James and Tatum gave the night its sharpest edge, especially as the Celtics tried to hold off a Philadelphia push.
Boston took a 62-51 lead into halftime, and the 76ers were working to chip away at it. The game turned into a sequence of momentum swings and big responses, the kind of setting where Tatum has long been comfortable. He answered with the kind of burst Joe Mazzulla sometimes seems to want from him, and the result was another emphatic finish over James.
Tatum had put James in a poster once again.
That wasn’t the only damage he did. By the end of the third quarter, Tatum had 21 points on 47.05% shooting from the field and 42.9% from three. He also added six rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while the 76ers managed to force two turnovers.
There’s still plenty of game left, but for now the Celtics have the edge, and Tatum has done his part to keep it that way.
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Sixers Fans Have Seen This Doc Rivers Pattern Before
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Philadelphia supporters have seen this movie before. Rivers time with the 76ers was marked by public criticism of Ben Simmons and reported clashes with James Harden, the sort of friction that left plenty of lingering questions even after the season moved on. So when Rivers inserts himself into another star storyline, it is hard not to view it through the same lens, with the focus shifting from the player in question to the trail of tension Rivers tends to leave behind. [Read more 🡒]
Paul Georges Return Reopens A Sixers Breakup Fans Havent Forgotten
Paul Georges first trip back to Philadelphia came with the kind of extra attention that usually follows a player who left a mark, even if the ending was messy. Now wearing a Celtics uniform, George talked about his time with the Sixers, the way he has settled into Boston, and what he expected from a fan base that has not exactly forgotten how things went when he was here.
Through nine games with Boston, George has been productive enough to remind everyone why his move mattered in the first place, giving the Celtics scoring, playmaking and activity on both ends. For Sixers fans, the return was always going to stir up more than a routine regular-season matchup, because it reopened a breakup that still lingers in the background every time he steps onto the floor in Philadelphia. [Read more 🡒]