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After a first half closed with 7 points, Jayson Tatum unleashed in the second half scoring 17 of his 31 points in the third quarter alone, overturning Game 5 and saving the season for the Boston Celtics, who will be able to play their chances at the Game 6.. For him in the end also 10 rebounds and 6 assists with an absolute leader performance after zero points in the first half of the race-4
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Jayson tatum he felt he had something to be forgiven. He himself had defined it as “unacceptable“The zero points scored in the first half of race 4 against the Miami Heat, despite finishing with 28 points in the second. Even in the fifth game things weren’t going well for him or the Boston Celtics – despite scoring 10 points in the first half, in fact, Tatum had only scored 3 of his 9 attemptsand his team left in the interval of seven lengths. Almost a bargain given the 25% of shots (5/20) of the Verdiblancos in the first quarter of only 18 points scored, with the entry of Enes Kanter (8 points all in the second quarter) that began to change the destiny of the match. .
The third quarter as ruler of Tatum
However, what really made the difference was the third quarter in which Boston exploded scoring 41 points (best fraction of these playoffs) dragged by their young leader in jersey number 0. Having already achieved a third quarter of 16 points in the fourth game, Tatum did even better by putting 17 in race 5, destroying the defense of Miami with his dribbling game and controlling the rhythm of the game constantly going to the bezel. Eight of the 14 free throws taken by Tatum (number reached only two more times this season) they arrived in the third fraction game and allowed Boston to pack a partial 13-0 that canceled the challenge and gave confidence to the Verdiblancos, who then closed the scoring in the fourth quarter with two triples (and a kiss on the bench) from Jaylen Brown, the team’s second best scorer with 28 points.
Fifth game over 30 points: Kevin McHale reached
am 31 instead of Tatum’s, which also added 10 rebounds and 6 assists to his imprecise shooting performance (8/22 from the field of which 3/10 from three) but with few blemishes (only 2 turnovers) and marked by travel on the bezel, which is considered his main offense foul. In the regular season, the Celtics star tried less than 5 free averages per game, While in these playoffs he has already taken his line attempts to 7 – going from 25.5% free throw rate (the ratio between free throws attempted and the total number of shots attempted by the field) 36.7%. A fundamental aggression for Boston and also for him, that for him fifth time this postseason he reached 30 points after having already done it in race 1 and 2 against Philadelphia, in race 2 against Toronto and in race 1 against Miami. A goal that none of the great Celtics of the recent past, from Paul Pierce to Kevin Garnett to Isaiah Thomas, has managed to achieve, since the last was Kevin McHale in the 1987-88 season. That year, the Celtics lost the conference finals to the Detroit Pistons in Game 6: an end result that Tatum and his companions would rather not replicate on the night between Sunday and Monday at 1.30 am, when they will return to the field against Miami (live on Sky Sport with comments from Francesco Bonfardeci and Matteo Soragna).
Start 25 + 10 + 5 before age 23: none like Tatum
With this performance Tatum also separated LeBron James, becoming the first player in NBA history with five playoff games of at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists before his 23rd birthday. A list that also includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in third place with 3 and Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson with 2: a truly respectable company for the young All-Star of the Boston Celtics.
