It wasn't the prettiest game from Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics, but it was still a plus on the win-loss column against the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

The gritty 121-118 overtime win was a far cry from their first game since the NBA Finals back in December when the Warriors ran away with a 16-point victory on their home floor. Tatum admits that Boston's mindset was in the wrong place in that game – something they managed to set straight for their rematch on Thursday.

“The first time we played them in San Francisco, I feel like we bought into that ‘rematch of the Finals' ABC game,” said Jayson Tatum after the Celtics' OT win. “First time back since we lost. Everybody wanted to win so bad. I think that was the first time all season that we played out of character, that we played tense.”

Tatum finished with 34 points but largely struggled from the field, missing 18 of his 27 shot attempts. But he powered through as much as he could as he played a game-high 41 minutes and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds.

More important for Tatum, the Celtics were able to bury the emotions from the NBA Finals loss in order to keep them moving forward in what's been a stellar season for Boston.

“The fact of the matter is we lost. We lost the championship. No one win can bring that back. … We didn't look at this as a rematch of the Finals. It's just one game.”

The Celtics and Warriors split their season series at one game apiece. Whether they face off against this season remains to be seen.