The Boston Celtics‘ last-minute win against Eastern Conference rivals the Philadelphia 76ers to stay atop the conference was enough for Hollywood on its own, but Jayson Tatum‘s words preceding the game-winner seemed straight out of a movie script.
Facing the third-placed 76ers on the road, the Celtics were level pegging with their rivals with just five seconds to go in the game, but Tatum pulled out a clutch three-pointer to win the game and keep his team ahead of the 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
“Coming out of the timeout, I told Grant (Williams) ‘it’s game time. We’re going home,’” Tatum said. “I knew it had been a tough night. It was perfect story, right? Tie game, five seconds left. I hadn’t been shooting well. Come through for the guys when we needed it most.”
However, things threatened to take another turn.
After the timeout, Marcus Smart took the ball and dropped a bounce pass to Tatum, who took on De’Anthony Melton and beat the 76ers guard before dropping back and launching the shot that hit home with just 1.3 seconds remaining.
That mean Joel Embiid barely had any time to respond, but he took the ball, went forwards two strides against Al Horford before launching a shot from inside his own quarter-court that flew the length of the woodwork and slotted home in the Celtics’ net.
However, the officials had called time before the shot left his hand and the replay backed up that Embiid was milliseconds too late.
