Jayson Tatum adoration eclipses Kyrie Irving anger as Celtics fans go home happy | Matt Vautour

BOSTON – It won’t go down as the best game of Jayson Tatum’s career. It’s obviously up there among his growing number of terrific efforts, but he’s had better nights statistically and he’s had outstanding performances in games that meant more than Friday’s 125-119 win over Brooklyn, in Game 3 of their best-of-seven playoff series.

But no game in his young career bonded him to Celtics fans more than this one. They wanted to win this game and beat Kyrie Irving badly. Tatum scored 50 points to make it happen.

It’s been an undeniably frustrating year. The Celtics not only fell well short of their own expectations after reaching the Eastern Conference finals last year. The Nets’ success happening simultaneously made the sting worse. Irving’s master plan worked. When he went back on his promise to re-sign in Boston, Celtics fans wanted to believe he and an injured Kevin Durant couldn’t turn Brooklyn into a contender.

They hoped Durant wouldn’t be the same after his Achillies injury and Irving’s caustic personality would damage chemistry there just like it did in Boston.

Instead, the Nets, who also added James Harden to create a super team, did jell. Durant is healthy and Irving has been the player in Brooklyn the Celtics thought they were building their franchise around when they traded Isaiah Thomas for him.

The same Nets franchise, who Celtics fans used to enjoy mocking for dealing Boston the picks that gave them Tatum and Jaylen Brown, have zoomed past them in Eastern Conference pecking order. Brooklyn is undeniably good enough to win a championship while the Celtics had to win a play-in game just to reach the postseason.

Reasonable Boston fans aren’t expecting them to go deep into the playoffs. That dream faded somewhere in March and died when Brown needed wrist surgery. They aren’t even expecting this series to last very long. They just wanted to at least beat Irving. The idea of him coming back to the Garden for the first time with fans in the building and sweeping two games from Celtics was unbearable.

Tatum didn’t let it happen.

Long before Irving turned his return to Boston into a referendum on the city and the fanbase’s ugly racial history, many Celtics fans were eager to boo Irving for leaving town.

So they got after him early, booing when he walked out of the tunnel for warmups, when was introduced as a starter and every time he touched the ball. They cheered all 11 shots he missed on a 6-for-17 shooting, 16-point night. Occasionally the chants were more vulgar, but Irving said he didn’t mind because nothing he heard crossed the line and expected more Sunday night.

Game 3 had several ingredients that have shown up in many Celtics losses. Slow start. Inconsistent Kemba Walker. An untimely injury (Rob Williams) and almost no contribution from their bench.

When the Celtics fell behind 19-4, booing Irving seemed like it might be fans’ only source of satisfaction Friday. But Tatum scored six straight points to bring Boston back into the game and get his night started.

He had 13 points in the first quarter, eight in the second, 19 in the third and 10 very important ones in the fourth to help the Celtics repel Brooklyn’s late push.

Numerous times late in the game, Celtics fans chanted “M-V-P” at Tatum. That’s objectively silly considering where Boston finished in the standings, but it was a sign the night had shifted a little. This wasn’t just the Kyrie return game anymore. It had become a Tatum signature game too.

With less than a minute left in the game and under 10 seconds on the shot clock and the Celtics leading 120-115, Tatum dribbled the ball just inside the 3-point line at the top of the key with Durant guarding him. Tatum jabbed his foot and Durant stepped back to play the drive. Tatum used the brief window of space to pull up and swish the jumper. It gave him 50 points and the Celtics an insurmountable lead at 122-115 with 48.1 remaining.

Because he did immediate postgame interviews on TV, Tatum was one of the last remaining Celtics on the court when the game was over. But despite the late finish on a rainy night, a large cluster of fans waited to give him one last ovation before he headed down the tunnel in appreciation for a night worth celebrating.

The affection was mutual.

“There’s nothing like playing at home in front of your home crowd, your family,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of games in this arena. It’s my favorite place to play.”

Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.