After a couple uncharacteristically poor performances, Jayson Tatum bounced back in a big way to lead the Celtics to their first victory against the Cavaliers this season, 117-113.
Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell was unstoppable, scoring 44 points with five assists and four rebounds. Darius Garland also had a good night, scoring 29 points with nine assists and three rebounds.
But Tatum had an MVP-caliber performance, scoring 41 points on 13-of-21 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Tatum made 11 free throws and also had 11 rebounds and eight assists, including one with a crazy behind-the-back pass to Al Horford, who has continued to drain threes and provide spacing that allows Tatum and Jaylen Brown to get the one-on-one matchups that make their jobs easier.
Horford was sensational, scoring an efficient 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from three. Horford developing into a three-point specialist has been a key to the Celtics' dominance this season. Tatum, Brown, Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White don't get the same spacing and looks without him shooting a career-high 44% from three.
All starters on the Celtics scored more than 11 points. Brown had 16 with four assists and three rebounds. Marcus Smart scored 14 points with two assists, and Rob Williams scored 11 points and had 11 rebounds.
As for White and Brogdon, they had a combined six points -- four for White, two for Brogdon -- which is a season low for when both play this season. This is not something that should be a concern, as the starters played a relatively balanced game with the exception of Tatum taking over.
After two off nights for Tatum, many people questioned whether or not he was 100 percent healthy or fatigued after dropping 55 points in the All-Star Game. After the game, Tatum said, "I'm not listening to you guys when I play bad. It's a long season. It's 82 games. Nobody has a great day at work every day of the year. Everybody has bad days, I guess. But you gotta take the good days with the bad days. I never get too high and never get too low."
Consistency has been the key for Tatum being mentioned in the MVP race so often. It's one thing to have one 40-point night, but in the past six seasons, Tatum has had 20 nights where he has scored 40 or more points. He is only behind Paul Pierce with 21 and Larry Bird with 47 in team history.
With Tatum averaging 30.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists this season, Celtics fans are in great hands, and when he doesn't perform like he typically does, the roster has the help on the bench to get them over the hump to come out with the win.
