Jayson Tatum scored 50 points on Tuesday night, as the Boston Celtics had a big second half to roll past the Washington Wizards 118-100 in a play-in game for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference at TD Garden in Boston.
Boston (37-36) led by as many as nine in the opening quarter and 27-21 at the end of the first 12 minutes, before Washington bounced back outscoring the Celtics 33-25 in the second for a 54-52 halftime edge. The hosts would open the game up early in the third quarter, using a 22-4 run fueled by 11 from Tatum to go up 74-58. The Wizards cut it to seven early in the fourth, but the C’s pushed it back out to their largest lead of the night of 22 and cruised down the stretch.
Tatum shot 14-32 from the floor, 5-12 from three-point range, and 17-17 from the foul line and added eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and a steal. Kemba Walker also came up big with 29 points and seven rebounds. Tristan Thompson added a double double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Washington (34-39) was led by Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook in the loss. Bradley had 22 points, nine rebounds, and six assists, while Westbrook finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and three steals. The Wizards now will battle in another play-in game for that final #8 spot in the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers (35-38) in Washington on Thursday night. Boston will head to Brooklyn for Game 1 of their first round series with the Nets on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Brooklyn won all four regular season meetings.
