PHILADELPHIA -- Wells Fargo Center was literally shaking.
I was seated way up top, eye-level with the banners in the rafters, andI felt the table and chair move as most of the 21,337 screamed and jumped after Georges Niang’s second 3-pointer of the quarter fell.
The Celtics, once up 16, were now down by four. They were falling apart. They were turning the ball over. They looked shook. Jayson Tatum was in the midst of one of his worst shooting performance of his life, missing 12 of the 13 shots he’d taken to that point.
Sixers fans were leaping in anticipation. They were so close to finally breaking through; to finally getting to the Eastern Conference Finals with Joel Embiid, who was finally the MVP. And they were about to do it against the Boston Celtics, the nemesis that has haunted them all these years.
They just needed to get through one last quarter.
When Tatum turned the ball over with 8:42 left, it felt close to over. Sure, it was only a one point game, but it felt like the Sixers were in control. Maybe it was because of how spectacularly bad the turnover was. It definitely felt over with 5:57 left when, after a Jaylen Brown turnover, Tatum committed a take foul out of frustration, gifting the Sixers two free points.
It felt like a capper to Tatum’s horrible night.
“That shit was frustrating,” Tatum said. “You want to win so bad. You want to play so well. And shots aren’t falling, things just aren’t necessarily going your way. And you want it so bad. Trying to stay present, trying to stay in the moment, trying to do other things.”
To his credit, he did do some other things. However, one of the things he’s supposed to do is score. Rebounds, assists, and blocks are obviously important, but the bottom line midway through the fourth quarter was the Celtics were struggling with the Sixers and Tatum couldn't put the ball in the basket.
“I think sometimes for him, and a lot of us, he gets into that mold where he thinks ‘I have to do this, I have to do that, and he wants to be so perfect,’” Marcus Smart said. “It’s a good thing and it’s a bad thing. Sometimes you got to lean on your teammates, and that's what we’re here for. To let him know that you’re not perfect. Nobody’s perfect. We just need you to be the best you can be and that's all we can ask for.”
His teammates kept the game close, holding it together as long as possible hoping to get something, anything, from their star player. The crowd, much more tense as they begged for time to run off the clock, was waiting to explode one more time and head into the weekend to happily celebrate a Sixers milestone with mom.
But Tatum never gave them the chance.
With four minutes to go, he hit his first 3-pointer of the night. He hit his second about 40 seconds later. All of a sudden it was a four point Boston lead.
“I just kept looking at the time,” he said. “I just kept telling myself, ‘I’ve got time. I’ve got time to make a difference.’ And I believed that throughout the whole game.”
The confidence that seemed to elude Tatum earlier in the game was suddenly flowing. He drilled a third 3-pointer with less than two minutes to play. On the other end, the Sixers were missing every shot they took. With 1:53 left, Tatum drilled his third 3-pointer of the quarter. Then he wrapped it all up with one last triple with 36.6 on the clock to end the night early for Sixers fans.
Tatum pounded the ball loudly on the floor, and it echoed through an arena much more empty and quiet than before.
“I had 43 minutes of them telling me how bad I was,” Tatum said. “So it kind of felt good to see everybody getting out they seat and leaving early in that moment.”
The Wells Fargo Center is a little worse for wear after Game 6 after all that yelling and jumping. So is Tatum. All but four of his minutes were frustrating and tested his patience and confidence. He was being compared to John Starks’ 2-18 Game 7 in the 1994 NBA Finals. It was going to be his lowest point as a pro.
And then he finally got one to drop. Tatum has been struggling a bit with his shot in the playoffs, so maybe the late barrage to force a Game 7 could be enough to get him going a little earlier next time.
“I don't want to do this shit again. Hopefully, that's a one-time thing,” he said. “But if this is what it takes for us to win, I'll go oh-for-whatever. Sunday is obviously a big game, Game 7, and I'm excited to go back and kinda like redeem ourselves in front of our home crowd. I'm excited to see them. The building is gonna be rocking. We need everybody there, everybody full of energy. Cause we gon' need it. And I know they're gon' bring it. We have the best fans in the world."
