Business is boomin’ this morning for Jayson Tatum and the Celtics.
All is right in the Boston basketball world after Tatum’s Game 7-record 51 points in the 112-88 whooping of whinny MVP Joel Embiid and the overmatched Doc Rivers-led 76ers.
Shaking off the shaky starts that had been an issue in his previous three postseason performances, Tatum took the momentum he’d built late in the Game 6 win in Philly and ran with it. The budding Boston star could not have been much better, notching 25 first-half points on the way to record-setting Mother’s Day explosion that included 17-of-28 shooting (6 of 10 from behind the arc), 13 rebounds, five assists, two steals and, remarkably, ZERO turnovers!
This was the stuff of TD Garden legend. The kind of performance that draws comparisons to another far- from forgotten parquet Legend. Heck, it had Rivers comparing Tatum to a King, Lebron James.
But the best part of Tatum’s breakout effort in front of a loud and proud home crowd wasn’t what it was, rather what it leads to.
As the team-issued t-shirts so declare, Tatum and the Celtics have earned the right to continue to “UNFIN18HED BUSINESS” in the Eastern Conference Finals rematch with the Miami Heat.
This is a chase for a banner for Boston. This is a chase for permanent, lasting greatness for Mr. All-NBA Tatum.
50-burger games are great. Even better in the postseason.
Legendary in Game 7.
But they are fleeting. Just ask Steph Curry who held the record for points in a Game 7 for mere days and will now be home watching the rest of the NBA postseason like the rest of us, with his previous four championship rings to ease his 2023 disappointment.
Tatum deserves all the praise he can get for his work against the choking-dog 76ers. But it won’t hold up the test of time if he reverts to his slow-starting ways in the face of the challenge that is Jimmy Butler and the Heat.
“It’s the best time of the year,” Tatum told reporters after his Game 7 domination. “As a competitor, I love the opportunity.”
And it’s hard not to love that Tatum realizes that final word is the key. Opportunity.
Tatum and the Celtics have an opportunity to do something truly special this spring. Something lasting and historic. Something that would never be forgotten. Something that goes well beyond the stat sheet.
It’s not about 50-plus points. It’s not about second-round wins in Game 7, no matter how impressive the fashion.
It’s about finishing the business at hand.
It’s about a ring.
It’s about a banner.
It’s about making history in the most treasured and permanent way.
In the fashion of the fashion sported by Celtics players and fans alike are wearing this spring.
It’s about “UNFIN18HED BUSINESS.”
Tatum, his teammates and Green Teamers everywhere should certainly celebrate what took place on a memorable Mother’s Day afternoon at the Garden. It was as fun as it was necessary as a thread in the longer narrative.
Then it needs to be put in its proper place. In the rearview mirror.
Because as special as Tatum’s performance was in the big win. Something even more special could and probably should be ahead for these Celtics and their young superstar leader.