The Boston Celtics were able to walk away with a clutch 122-120 victory against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. The final seconds that sealed the Celtics' victory came down to some heroic plays from Jayson Tatum on both ends of the floor.
One of the more impressive moments was Tatum's last-minute jump shot while defended by the taller Blake Griffin. Tatum's teammate Marcus Smart believes the Celtics got “exactly” what they wanted with Griffin switched onto the fourth-year forward, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
Marcus Smart said Boston got “exactly what we wanted” with Blake Griffin being switched onto Jayson Tatum for the final Celtics possession. Tatum had little trouble shaking Griffin to bury the game-winning shot.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 3, 2021
Jayson Tatum DELIVERS! 😱 pic.twitter.com/Pa4zuCwN8Q
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 3, 2021
Tatum had been impressive for most of the game. While his 24-point performance has become somewhat of a norm, Tatum was also able to display his ball-handling abilities while dishing out a career-high 12 assists.
Tatum's game wouldn't have been possible if not for Brown's dominant play throughout the first half. Brown finished the game with a team-high 31 points while shooting 5-of-8 from 3-point range on Sunday.
The Celtics will walk away with a 1-1 record at Little Caesars Arena for now. After losing to the Pistons on New Year's Day, the Celtics were in a critical position to not drop two in a row before heading back out on the road to face the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
While they will certainly take the late-game win over the Pistons, the Celtics still need to address the mantra that's developed of getting off to a slow start in many of their games, which often leads to close games more times than not. Head coach Brad Stevens was adamant about the fact that it's almost a formality to expect his Celtics to not come out the gate swinging, which is a concern.
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