Jayson Tatum had only taken three shots with under 10 seconds on the clock and the game on the line in his young career thus far.
He was 1-for-2 on shots to tie the game at the buzzer and 0-for-1 on shots to win the game.
The one-make sent a regular season contest against the Washington Wizards to overtime in his rookie season. His only other game-winning, buzzer-beater shot attempt came in that very same game, as the rookie forward missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
The Boston Celtics' last-second win over the New York Knicks wrote another chapter in the book of Tatum's promising start to his career as he got his first-career game-winner to fall.
This Celtics-Knicks game was a dog fight. There was 24 lead changes and 10 ties, with 10 of those lead changes and four of those ties coming in the fourth quarter alone.
Celtics guard Kemba Walker was incredible again, going for 33 points, six rebounds and five assists, including 12 points in the fourth quarter to keep Boston's winning hopes alive. He dueled it out with former Celtic Marcus Morris, who went for 29 points and nine rebounds in his first return to Boston.
Tatum had it going the entire contest, scoring 24 points on his most efficient game of the season shooting 9-for-17 (52.9%) from the field and 4-for-8 (50.0%) from beyond the arc. He also had a clutch eight points in the fourth quarter, including his game-winning 3-ball.
R.J. Barrett's efficiency wasn't there, shooting 5-for-17 (29.4%) from the field, but he had a solid stat line of 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists, including some tough defence on the shot that decided the outcome of the game.
The Knicks were trailing by three points with under five seconds to go when Morris buried a clutch 3-pointer to tie things up against his old squad.
After a timeout, the Celtics went straight to Tatum on the inbounds play with Barrett on his back. Tatum squared himself to the rookie before hitting him with a quick swing and hard dribble to create some space, rising up over Barrett's outstretched hand to knock down the game-winner.
⏪ The final sequence of the Celtics/Knicks game ft. former Celtic, Marcus Morris Sr., and Jayson Tatum 👀 pic.twitter.com/vJDAuXsJbE
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 2, 2019
After the game, Tatum had some fun joking around about his former teammate, stating that he wish he had hit the game-winner over him.
Jayson Tatum called Marcus Morris like a big brother to him: “I kind of wish I hit that shot over him.”
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) November 2, 2019
Boston has now won four-consecutive games and stands in at 4-1 on the season. The Knicks fall to 1-5 and have lost two in a row.
