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Tim good morningESPN
BOSTON – After Celtics star Jayson Tatum scored 44 points to lead his team to a 119-114 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, beating a spectacular 47-point performance by Stephen Curry in the process, Tatum he said it was an excitement for him to go from end to end with the future Hall of Fame and come out on top.
“Just mutual respect,” Tatum said, when asked about the conversation the two had in the courtyard of TD Garden afterwards. “Viouslybviamente, two great performances. I was glad we got the win, but it’s obviously one of the greatest of all time.
“Just to earn respect and win the same night … it was a good night.”
It was a fantastic night for all who watched it, as the Celtics and Warriors ended up with one of the most entertaining games of the season. But while Curry continued his quick, torrid 30-point streak for a tenth straight game, Boston once again showed the degree and toughness they lacked so often at the start of the season. The Celtics overcame a 16-point deficit in the first half and again got a dramatic win that had the streams and flows of a playoff game, as opposed to one in the middle of the regular season.
Much of this was due to the back-and-forth battle between Tatum and Curry, one that Tatum, who finished 16 for 25 overall and 5 for 9 from the 3-point range, eventually won.
“First of all, I’m amazed at what I’ve seen tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “From a skill level and a competition level, it felt like a playoff game. Both teams were just gassed and competed like crazy, and they just made incredible shots, especially from Steph and Jayson. So what a basketball game. It hurts to lose, but I told the team I feel they will improve tonight. “
This was the kind of game the Celtics would have lost very easily at the start of the season. But for Boston, which has now won six in a row and eight again since the schedule passed in April, such performances are increasingly credible. This is the third time in four games that the Celtics have overcome a double-digit deficit (after doing so in Denver on Sunday and Portland on Tuesday) to maintain that streak.
But while there’s a new energy and momentum around this team that wasn’t there before, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said it comes from a pretty obvious place: that the Celtics finally they’ve been able to get most of their center rotation on the court and playing together lately, even if they were without three of their top six players Jaylen Brown, Evan Fournier and Robert Williams on Saturday night.
“I think the first reason for our little career here is that we’ve been, for the most part, healthier,” Stevens said. “Now tonight we were a little less, but we just missed a lot of guys earlier this year. And I know it seems like an excuse. I hope not. I think what we’ve tried to do is stay afloat like that. that we could and hope to get to a point where we’re a little healthier and put together a few weeks of good basketball.Throughout all of this, our guys have done an amazing job of staying together.And when that happens, and then you get a little boost and then you have a tendency to respond when you don’t feel well. “
Of course, it also helps a young star warm up, as Tatum did in this one, while Kemba Walker scored 26 points, including a 3-point critical with 24.8 seconds to help avoid Curry and the Warriors. But after his last big performance, Tatum now averages 29.3 points in April and has finally helped the Celtics start to move away from the chance to be in the play-in tournament. after a season full of attacks and starts that has seen several players. – including Tatum – COVID-19 contract.
Tatum added 53 points in that building just eight days ago to set a new maximum run, but that game was against the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the worst teams in the league. This one appeared on national television in a back-and-forth duel with one of the game’s all-time greats in Curry, a game that saw both players make massive shots along the stretch.
“It’s amazing,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said of Tatum’s development. “It’s a good feeling to see him, it’s a good feeling to be a part of it. Just seeing his development and seeing him continue to rise to a great player has certainly been a pleasure to be a part of.”
And, along the way, Tatum earned the respect of Curry, who had a lot of praise for the young star after the match was over.
“I just told him he’s super tough, man,” Curry said. “It can be noticed that the game has slowed down. Only in the way you pick and choose your places and how you handle the game. You’re shooting the ball much better from the perimeter, but when that game slows down, I don’t know if four or five years pass, whatever it is, then you become lethal.
“With your skills, your size, your system counts, so he’s a supreme talent. Supreme talent.”