Jayson Tatum torches Durant, Nets in 54-point outburst

Kevin Durant was great. Jayson Tatum was better.

Boston and Brooklyn lined it up in Beantown on Sunday afternoon, and it proved to be a battle of wing dynamos, with Tatum putting up 54 points to overwhelm the Nets, led by Durant and his 37.

It was the fourth 50-point outing of Tatum's career and the second-highest scoring total of his career, a few buckets shy of the 60 he scored against San Antonio on April 30, 2021. 

Lost in the sauce of Deuce's dad's wonderful weekend showing is the fact that the Celtics defeated the Nets 126-120, and Boston has won three in a row, five of its last six, and 14 of its last 16. 

And that hot streak is due in large part to Tatum's overheated shooting, especially this past week. 

In three March games, he is averaging 41.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists, all while shooting 52.5% from the field. 

On Sunday, he hit on 16 of his 30 field goal attempts, eight of his 15 3-point attempts, and 14 of his 17 free-throw tries. 

Not to mention, he was just being nasty with it.

Tatum is now one of 10 players in NBA history to record four-plus 50-point games before turning 25 (Tatum just turned 24). He's the only player with multiple 50-point games this season, and he now has back-to-back seasons with multiple 50-point games.

No other player in Celtics franchise history has ever had more than one 50-point game in a single season.

After the game, both Durant and former Celtic Kyrie Irving gave it up to Tatum in layman's terms.

"He made shots — he's a shot maker," Durant said. " … He's an elite shot maker. He's been knocking 'em down and playing with confidence lately." 

When Irving was asked what was the biggest difference in Sunday's game, he flatly said, "Jayson Tatum."

"[Tatum] was just getting to his spots tonight," Irving added. "That was the difference in the game. Even if you take 15 points away from what he scored tonight, it would be a different game."

Here's how the NBA world reacted to Tatum's big day: