Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum played like a man possessed as he dropped 60 points to lead one of the biggest comebacks in NBA history against the Spurs.
Jayson Tatum delivered the Boston Celtics‘ scoring performance of the century on Friday night.
The forward matched Larry Bird for the most points in a single game for Boston with 60 as he dragged his team to an unlikely victory over the San Antonio Spurs by shooting 20-for-37 from the field, 5-for-7 from 3-point range and 15-for-17 from the foul line.
It started with a fall-away jumper and ended with a free throw to ice San Antonio in overtime. You can watch those shots and everything in between from Boston’s 32-point comeback win in overtime here:
Tristan Thompson said it best after the game.
Jayson Tatum’s night against the Spurs was one for the ages
Putting the performance into context requires some fun facts.
Tatum is the second-youngest player in NBA history with a 60-point outing, trailing only Devin Booker’s 70-point game at age 20, per ESPN Stats & Info. He’s also the first player for Boston to score 50 in multiple games in a season.
He managed to score 60 without a single turnover while adding 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block.
Scoring 60 is an accomplishment to be celebrated. Doing it in the way Tatum did it adds another later. The Celtics needed every single one of them to pull off the third-biggest comeback in the history of the NBA.
San Antonio’s win probability hovered above 90 percent for most of the game. When your largest lead is 32 points, it’s easy to see why.
Unfortunately for the Spurs, Tatum’s effort to chip away at that lead made for a thrilling end to what looked like an uncompetitive contest. The Celtics scored just 16 points in the first quarter and 12 of them belonged to Tatum.
He scored 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to make sure his team got the 143-140 victory despite the slow start.