Ten victories for two defeats. This is the assessment of the Celtics for a month and after having dominated the Nuggets, they may need a new reference victory to silence the critics. It is done with this success in the face of the Lakers, which remained on eight victories in a row. From the first quarter, we understood that we were going to attend a great match, and in particular that Jayson Tatum had another message to send.
From the All-Star Game, the Celtics winger seems to be overlooked at the idea of proving that he is an underestimated player, and that night, it was he who set the tone after the big start of the Lakers. It starts with a spin move to enroll Austin Reaves and go to the dunk. Then there is this 3-point at 10 meters, with the foot on the letters of TD Garden. His first quarter is clean with a 5 out of 8 shots to put the two teams tied. And it is he who will later give four points ahead of the break after a dunk at the last second.
“Fans love it. Rivalry is alive ” He will launch after Boston's victory. “As I said before, the NBA is better when the Celtics and the Lakers are good.”
Proud to be at the heart of the largest rivalries
A rivalry that pushes to raise its level of play, and the duel of the duos (Brown-Tatum vs Lebron-Doncic) was epic, unfortunately interrupted by the exit on injury of Lebron James. “It is only the regular season, and this victory has no more accounting value than another, but it remains special” insists Tatum. “It is special to be part of this rivalry with such players on both sides. We want to experience moments. I'm sure fans have appreciated. There were, face to face, two very good teams who gave everything on both sides of the field. »»
On arrival, Tatum delivers one of his best matches of the season with 40 points at 12 out of 28 on shots, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. By his side, Jaylen Brown brings 31 points and he took care of the Doncic case. And the return of Jrue Holiday, still touched on the finger, is an important element for Tatum. “We are a much better team when Jrue is there. Obviously, we still miss Kristaps, but it's just great to have jruit on both sides of the field. »»
A return that did not prevent Joe Mazzulla from playing Tatum 45 minutes, and it would be necessary to prevent it from being repeated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai2wekjamdu
