Jayson Tatum caught the inbound pass with 2.3 seconds left in overtime, took two dribbles toward the elbow and let the 17-footer go. It dropped at the buzzer.
Boston escaped 125-124 on Tuesday night, capping Tatum’s 40-point night and extending the Celtics to a third straight win.
Tatum shot 10-of-20 from the field and 18-of-22 from the free throw line, with eight assists and zero turnovers. He is now the first player in NBA history to score at least 40 points and hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in a game played before November, and he joined Larry Bird, who did it twice, as the only Celtics ever to combine 40 points with a buzzer-beater in the same game.
A rookie’s two seconds
Boston had already fumbled it once. With a four-point lead and 4.2 seconds left in regulation, the Celtics watched Mikel Brown Jr. hit a corner three with 0.2 seconds on the clock to force overtime after Tatum had missed the second of two free throws.
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The rookie then had the ball again with the Nets up 124-123 and 2.3 seconds remaining in OT. Instead of running the clock or drawing a foul, Brown drove left-handed to the rim. He missed. Boston got possession for one last play.
“It’s a broken play. I blame me,” Brown told reporters, as relayed by Yahoo Sports.
“We weren’t supposed to switch that and I switched it.”
First walk-off since the Achilles
The game-winner was Tatum’s first since recovering from a torn right Achilles.
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“It was a hell of a feeling,” he told the Boston Globe, saying the moment on the court with his teammates was the part that mattered most.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla was less sentimental. The Celtics had already blown a late lead and let a rookie drag them into overtime, and the coach warned his players through guard Derrick White that the film session would feel like a loss.
Michael Porter Jr. finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds for Brooklyn, and Julius Randle added 24 points before fouling out in the extra period. The Nets are 0-4 and still looking for their first win.
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