Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Memphis’ Ja Morant are two of the best young players in the NBA, and they showed us why on Monday evening.
Tatum finished with 39 points while Morant finished with 30 points, also adding 8 rebounds and 9 assists. It was a close game until the very end, and the Celtics had a one-point lead when Tatum earned a trip to the charity stripe with 2.2 seconds left on the clock.
After the game, Morant revealed that while Tatum was at the free-throw line, he tried convincing Tatum to miss one of the free throws. This would allow the Grizzlies to potentially force an overtime period.
Ja tried getting into Tatum's head last night… didn't go so well 😂 pic.twitter.com/FRzLdQFLGs
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 8, 2022
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According to the Memphis guard, however, the Celtics superstar said he could not do that because he needed to make it back home so that he could put his son, Deuce, to sleep. Parental responsibilities are a brilliant way to defer overtime!
Boston won, 109-106, and moved to 7-3 to start the 2022-23 NBA season.
Tatum switched to defend Morant at the end of the game, and his defensive highlights ended up helping Boston secure the victory. On the offensive side of the floor, Tatum’s increased ability to draw contact from opponents and get to the free-throw line has helped him take another leap so far this season.
It is still early in the season, but it would be very entertaining to see these two teams eventually have a seven-game rematch in the NBA Finals.
