What Celtics’ Jayson Tatum said of shot to send Lakers game to overtime

LOS ANGELES — The Celtics were realistically lucky to be in any position to potentially send the game to overtime. They were midway through a collapse as they saw a 20-point lead over the Lakers disappear and turn into a 13-point deficit.

While the C’s did get it to a one possession game, Anthony Davis strolled to the free throw line with 28.2 seconds left with the Lakers up 110-108. But in the pressure situation, Davis missed both free throws as the Celtics could tie the game with a field goal.

So they turned to trusty Jayson Tatum. Boston’s best player delivered, knocking down the midrange jumper over LeBron James to tie the game at 110. James’ 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark as the Celtics forced overtime. Then the C’s took it from there, beating the Lakers 122-118 on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena. Tatum rose up to the moment all night, pouring in 44 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

“It was better for us to push it, not for us to call a timeout and allow them to set up their defense,” Tatum said. “Push the ball and, for me, finding an opportunity. Find space and just get to my spot. That’s what I did. I tried not to settle. That’s something I work on all the time, get to the mid-range, game on the line, and a shot I’m very comfortable with.”

The Celtics, of course, looked like they were on cruise control in the early parts of the third quarter. They quieted down the pro-Lakers crowd as the shot-making impressed. But the Celtics were miserable as the Lakers at one point went on a 45-12 run to completely change the game.

Luckily for the Celtics, a 13-point deficit with 4:25 left in the game is far from insurmountable. Key Celtics made plays, and Tatum’s game-tying shot was just one of multiple impressive plays by the time the game was over.

But the Celtics picked up the all-important win to improve to 22-7 and snap a two-game losing streak. Had the C’s lost Tuesday’s game against the Lakers, it would’ve been a tough showing to finish out the six-game road trip. The Celtics don’t need to worry about that as they turned in an imperfect performance Tuesday, but it ended in a victory nonetheless.

“We knew exactly what we wanted to do,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said of Tatum’s shot. “We had two timeouts, 28 seconds left, and I saw a great player make a great shot, and a guy that wanted the moment. I thought that sparked, for overtime, him embracing that moment. Our team feed off of that and our team embraced the moment for the rest of overtime.

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