Jayson Tatum's big 4th quarter keeps Celtics alive against 76ers - ESPN

PHILADELPHIA — As Celtics star Jayson Tatum went through one of the worst shooting slumps of his career through the first three quarters of Game 6, he continued to get reassuring messages from up and down the Boston sideline.

«Keep going,» Celtics co-star Jaylen Brown said. «They can't guard you.»

«Let him know that he is that guy,» Celtics center Al Horford said. «And he's special.»

«I love you,» coach Joe Mazzulla said.

Yet, Tatum admitted to feeling frustrated in the midst of a 1-of-13 slump at the start of the fourth quarter, unable to hit shots with the Celtics on the brink of elimination on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers. But he kept looking up at the game clock, reminding himself that he still had time to make a difference.

Tatum finally broke through in the fourth quarter, knocking down four of his eight shots for 16 points, outscoring the Sixers by himself in the final period to help Boston seal a 95-86 victory and force a Game 7 in this series on Sunday. He hit three 3-pointers during clutch time to put the game away while the Sixers shot 0-for-6 in the clutch.

Tatum became the fifth player in the past 20 years to outscore another team in the fourth quarter of an elimination game, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. However, no player during that span had three or fewer points through three quarters and then proceeded to outscore the opposing team in the fourth quarter, according to StatsPerform.

«In transparency, s--- was frustrating,» Tatum said after the game. «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.»

The Celtics leaned on Tatum to get them out of this situation the year prior