NBA
Boston’s Jayson Tatum builds a stronger clutch record with this weekend’s three-point winner vs. 76ers
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated27 Feb 2023
“It’s game time,” Boston’s Jayson Tatum told his teammate Grant Williams as his squad was tied in the last seconds and called a final timeout this Saturday against the 76ers. The Celtics star knew this was their last chance, and so he sent his team home with a thrilling three-point winner at the Wells Fargo Center.
This is how it happened. The green star positioned himself in the Boston’s backcourt with only 5.9 seconds remaining, almost trying to conceal himself completely from the eyes of the Philly defense. Derrick White proceded to pass the ball to Marcus Smart who handed it immediately to a sprinting Tatum who recieved, dribbled foward, paused and delivered inside the rim.
With only 1.3 seconds to the clock, Sixers star Joel Embiid recieved the ball and threw it from three-quarters of the court, and incredibly it went in. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, the ball was still in his hands when the final buzzer went off, missing the chance to go to overtime for less than a second.
Watch these incredible scenes in Philadelphia and judge it yourselves in the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96TXIw5_BGo
As Boston won 110 to 107, Tatum went directly to the sidelines to check back with Williams. “What’d I tell you?” he exclaimed.
When you see the stats, you realize the 24-year-old wasn’t having his best of games, as his efficiency was off, dropping just 6 out of his 16 attempts from the field. Nevertheless, only superstars have the confidence not to fade during the game and be prepared for when your squad needs you the most.
And that’s the thing, Tatum has proved time and time again he is one of those special talents. Since entering the NBA in 2017, the Celtics foward has made 11 game-changing shots, either tying the contest or making the winning shots within five seconds from the end of the match. This makes him the most clutch player in the league’s last six campaigns.
Jayson Tatum is the only player in NBA history to shoot at least 50% on game-tying or go-ahead field goals in the last 24 seconds of the 4th quarter (min. 25 attempts).
After Saturday night's game-winner, he's 13-for-26 on such shots (15-for-29 including the playoffs). pic.twitter.com/3aqXmeq1hM
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) February 26, 2023
“I dreamed about taking those shots, ” Tatum said about these final nail-biting moments. “I never get nervous.”
Rob Williams also reached a new shooting record for the Celtics
Although Jayson Tatum was the name that made the news headlines after their last-second victory in Philadelphia, Boston’s Rob Williams also overcame a new scoring efficiency record, climbing to the top of the franchise’s all-time field goal percentage list.
The 25-year-old dropped all of his seven shots from the field against the Sixers, becoming the 50th time in his career that the center shoots perfectly during an NBA contest.
With this new stat, it has become a franchise record that used to be held by Kendrick Perkins with 49 such efforts. Probably the biggest difference between both marks, is how Williams achieved it after only 199 games for the Boston franchise, as for Perkins, he played in 335 career matches for this club.
