The Celtics are finally getting healthy and gaining some momentum, and Jayson Tatum made sure it continued on Friday night with a career-high 53 points in a 145-136 win over Minnesota.
Tatum is at his best when he has his pull-up three cooking, and that’s exactly what happened as Boston hosted the Timberwolves on Friday night. Minnesota is not a team that is going to lock you down, but they can sneak up on opponents who aren’t ready for their scoring.
Boston went into the half down nine, but Tatum willed the Celtics back into it in the second half with a stellar scoring show.
44 and counting for Tatum
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 10, 2021
The outburst put him pretty high up on the Celtics’ all-time scoring list, which when you play in Boston tends to lead to seeing some other great names alongside you.
Jayson Tatum has now tied Larry Bird for the 3rd most points in a regular season game in Celtics history
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) April 10, 2021
As Tatum noted postgame, the Celtics’ ball movement, which has been a subject of much debate lately, was better against the Timberwolves. Boston put up a whopping 36 assists as a team in the overtime victory. Tatum chipped in four assists and ten rebounds of his own, and the Celtics got a pretty nice night out of Kemba Walker, who scored 17, as well.
The Celtics have now won four of five and moved over .500 with the win.