Tatum, Brown pull no punches in putting away Game 4 for Celtics

Tatum, Brown pull no punches in putting away Game 4 for Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

CLEVELAND — Boxing might be in his blood, but Jaylen Brown never saw the left hook coming.

So when Jayson Tatum’s maybe-a-bit-too-amped chest slap landed in the final moments of Boston’s Game 4 win in Cleveland on Monday night, Brown recoiled and screamed, “Damn!” just seconds after his game-sealing 3-pointer.

“I wasn’t paying attention and he just comes out of nowhere with a left hook straight to the chest,” said Brown. “I’m going to get him back for that.”

Here are five reasons why we loved the sequence from the closing moments of Boston’s 109-102 triumph at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse:

The Cavaliers had crept back within five — having already triggered Boston’s first crunch-time game (score within five points in the final five minutes) of the entire postseason — and Brown calmly drilled the 3-point shot with 67 seconds to go.

The shot was set up by fellow All-Star Tatum, who drew so much attention coming off a pick-and-roll — with Derrick White as the screener — that Brown was able to find space as Isaac Okoro, shuffling to help on Tatum, tried desperately to scramble back to contest.

Brown got screened by a referee trying to slide into space, which is what left him infuriated after the play. He was barking at the ref when Tatum landed the emphatic chest slap after Cleveland called timeout.

The Celtics drew a lot of criticism during the regular season for their propensity to bog down in crunch-time situations. After a fourth quarter that featured entirely too much ISO ball, helping the Cavaliers to rally close, it was a nicely-designed set with Tatum willing to defer instead of forcing anything on the drive.

Tatum’s slap said a lot about how amped the Celtics were to finish off the win. It was a ugly, gritty game that probably shouldn’t have had to be as ugly or as gritty because of all the talent the Cavaliers were missing. But the Celtics so frequently played down to shorthanded opponents during the regular season that it didn’t matter how it looked. The Celtics got win No. 7…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tatum-brown-pull-no-punches-144524382.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-05-14 14:45:24

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.