A hero named Tatum

Philadelphia got dressed this morning for the playoff. It’s February, there’s still a while for the live ammunition to load into the rifles, but the experience the Sixers and Celtics offered us at Wells Fargo Arena came very close to a final rounds battle. He had everything and everything good, above all, for Boston that won (107-110) against one of its great rivals in the East. It is his third consecutive victory, the eighth in the last ten duels. The victory places the 3-0 in the particular balance between both teams. The Celtics are conference leaders with a game advantage over the Milwaukee Bucks and four over their rival this morning.

Some important figures that were possible thanks to the hero of Boston, a Jayson Tatum who, despite playing one of the worst games of the season, had the cold blood to unleash the triple that gave his team the victory with two seconds to go for the curtain to come down. His launch was frontal, defended as best he could. No one in the last five years has had as many hits (9) than he did in the last five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime to give his team the win or tie. It was his 18th point of the night. It is the 7th time this season that he has stayed below 20, the second against the Sixers: his lowest score this season (12) was against them, at the beginning of February.

Tatum’s work capped off an insane final five minutes, which were preceded by an insane first quarter, in which both teams made at least 50% of their shots. In the final period, Boston had a relatively comfortable lead: 91-97 in their favor. And, there, Joel Embiid came into action. The Cameroonian center received time and again with his back to the basket, about three to four meters from the hoop, to either score on suspension or draw a free kick on his penetrations. He was unstoppable and his numbers made it clear: 41 points and 12 rebounds.

And the Sixers climbed (also with a considerable effort on defense) until they were one up (103-102) with two minutes left. Al Horford unleashed his 5th triple of the night (15 points, all from the perimeter) to calm his team. Embiid, from the personal (17 of 18) tied it at 107 with just five seconds left. At that moment Tatum’s hand appeared. Embiid scored from his field to equalize … but time had already expired. And happiness traveled to Boston, which dreams, a little more, of winning the NBA champion crown again.