The Celtics faced off with the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, and by halftime were being booed off the court at TD Garden by their own fans. San Antonio had a chokehold lead, 77-48 going into the 2nd half. The Spurs shot 71.2% from the field against Boston in the first half, and Jayson Tatum was the only consistent scorer for Boston.
However, Boston gradually chipped away slowly at the Spurs lead, with Tatum carrying the team on his back. The Celtics scored 80 points combined in the second half to push the game into overtime.
Thanks to late game heroics from Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Aaron Nesmith and Jayson Tatum, Boston won the game 143-140 in overtime. They became only the second team since 1954 to come back from a halftime deficit of 29 points or more, and completed the third-largest comeback in NBA history.
Jayson Tatum was the story of the night, tying Larry Bird’s franchise-best single game scoring record with 60 points. Teammate Jaylen Brown spoke on the moment he shared after the game with Jayson Tatum on his career night.
The Celtics are now 34-30 on the season, with a half game lead over Miami for the 6th seed. Boston is now in a virtual tie with the Hawks, but Atlanta holds the tiebreaker. The Knicks remain a game and a half ahead of both teams in fourth place. Their next game will be tomorrow at 7:30 PM against the Portland Trailblazers.
