Jayson Tatum was as hot as the sun Tuesday night, as he played like an MVP to lead the Boston Celtics to a 122-118 overtime victory over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in Hollywood. The Celtics started the game on the heels of a two-game losing skid, and there was no way Tatum was going to allow his team to lose three games in a row for the first time this season — at least in this meeting with their bitter rivals.

It also helped that Tatum got some words from Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla that helped light the fire under him, going into the showdown versus the Lakers.

Via Souichi Terada of MassLive news:

Jayson Tatum on Joe Mazzulla: “Last game I played like shit. He told me that. Told me that the way I play, the rest of the guys are going to follow. … It's a responsibility every single night.”

Tatum dropped 44 points against the Lakers while shooting 15-for-29 from the floor in 44 minutes of play. The Celtics star was due for a big game, as he was shooting poorly in the previous two Boston games. He had an atrocious shooting line of 6-for-21 in the loss to the Golden State Warriors before going just 7-for-20 from the field in the Celtics' defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers — both on the road.

With Tatum finally getting his rhythm back, the Celtics hope that he will stay hot when they return home to TD Garden on Friday to host the Orlando Magic.