Jayson Tatum Lifts Boston Celtics Over Golden State Warriors in Overtime

The Boston Celtics outlasted the Golden State Warriors for a 121-118 overtime win, and Jayson Tatum was the star of the night. The three-time All Star tallied 34 points, six assists, and a career-high 19 rebounds.

JT played a grown man's game 🔥💪🏽

Tonight's @Gatorade Player of the Game was everywhere. pic.twitter.com/J8HAL2IqOX
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 20, 2023

Tatum gutted through a tough shooting night that included only nine makes on 27 field goal attempts. For the night, the Celtics hit only 43 of their 108 field goal attempts; fellow forward Jaylen Brown had a particularly tough night in his return from injury, sinking only six of 18 shots. Lucky for the Celtics, the Warriors had a similarly rough outing, hitting only 40 of 100 attempts and getting outrebounded 63 to 47.

The win lifts the Celtics to 34-12 and extends their lead in the Eastern Conference to 4.5 games. If not for some truly transcendent seasons from Nikola Jokic (25.1 points per game, 11.0 rebounds per game, 9.9 assists per game), Luka Doncic (33.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 8.8 apg), and Joel Embiid (33.6 ppg, 9.8 rbg, 4.2 apg), Tatum would have a great chance at MVP; he's scoring 31.2 ppg at a personal best .610 true shooting percentage with 8.5 rpg and 7.4 apg.

The Celtics will travel to Toronto on Saturday night to face the Raptors.