WASHINGTON (AP) – It was a way for Jayson Tatum to get out of his shooting crisis.
Tatum scored 51 points – 48 in the first three quarters – to help the Boston Celtics win a 116-87 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday.
Tatum made nine 3-point shots and shot 18 of 28 from the field. That was after shooting 0 in 17 over the arc in his last three games.
“When you miss shots, you know what you’re capable of, and sometimes you have to laugh about it,” Tatum said. “It’s as simple as they don’t shoot sometimes. You play so many games.”
Tatum had 31 points at halftime and scored 50 points on a push toward the basket while there was still about 4:30 left in the game. He added a technical free throw with 3:55 to play, then left the game while the crowd in Washington, which included many Boston fans dressed in green, gave him a standing ovation.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” Tatum said. “To see so many fans wearing a Tatum ‘0′ jersey on the road — something I don’t take for granted. I understand that there are 450 strange guys in the league, and they took the time to buy my jersey.”
Bradley Beal scored 19 points for the Wizards, who never headed the return of coach Wes Unseld Jr. on the list of health and safety protocol recent time. Washington, which has only one game left on an eight-game field, has lost three in a row.
Boston led 46-45 in the second quarter, but the 17-foot Tatum started a 14-0 run to close out the half. Tatum added a pair of free throws and two 3-pointers during that sequence and finished with 18 points in the quarter.
“It ended at about the end of the second quarter,” Unseld said. “In essence, it was the game.”
Tatum reached 40 points with some free throws at 4:48 of the third. A few moments after, a dunk put him on a par with his season-high of 42, which he established last month against Milwaukee. He added two more 3 before the end of the quarter, the second of which allowed Boston to prevail 89-62.
“Tatum’s credit, he spent a night,” Unseld said. “Obviously, 51 points is a real number. I think it was 6 to 8 on the pull-up 3, these are hard shots. No excuse. He was struggling, but he found his rhythm tonight.”
Tatum seemed to realize that his day might be over, and took three more shots in the final minute of the third quarter, all missed. He finished third at a bucket of 50 and left the game.
But he came back with 7:21 to make in the fourth and scored enough to make over 50 — though he stayed well away from his career high of 60, established against San Antonio last April.
Tatum knew how close he was to 50 when he got home. Celtics coach IME Udoka said that’s not a factor in getting him, though.
“We got a little heavy and stagnated there,” Udoka said. “We obviously had our closure issues, so bring it back and try to finish the game.”
BACK
Marcus Smart of Boston played for the first time since Jan. 10 after compliance with health and safety protocols. He scored 11 points.
USEFUL TIPS
Celtics: Jaylen Brown scored 18 points with 10 rebounds. Tatum also took 10 rebounds.
Wizards: Assistant Pat Delany coached the Wizards during a game in Unseld’s absence before he also introduced the health and safety protocols. Then Joseph Blair led the following three matches. … Deni Avdija scored 13 points with seven rebounds.
