NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Celtics-76ers starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET with Celtics Pregame Live, and then Mike & Scal have the call of the game at 7:30 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA — Entering his third NBA season, Jayson Tatum is on the road here in Philadelphia.
But truthfully, home or away doesn’t matter when it comes to Tatum making a big impact against the Sixers — and he’s looking to keep that trend going tonight when the Celtics kick off their season in Philly.
Tonight’s game seems to bring together Tatum’s success in opening night games, and the one team in the East Tatum torched more than any other.
In his two previous season openers, Tatum has averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds. And in four games against the Sixers last season, Tatum averaged 19.8 points and 8.8 rebounds — his best numbers against any team in the East last season.
But when it comes to the Sixers, Tatum says Game 3 of their second-round matchup in 2018 — better known as the confetti game — stands out as the game that comes to mind when he returns to face the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center.
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"That was one of the most fun games I’ve ever been a part of,” Tatum said.
Boston, already up 2-0 in the series, was clinging to an 89-87 lead with 1.7 seconds to play, Sixers ball. Marco Belinelli drained a buzzer-beating jumper in which his foot was on the 3-point line. The Sixers, unaware that Belinelli’s shot was a long 2-pointer and not what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer, released confetti, thinking they had won when in fact his shot simply forced overtime, which ended with the Celtics prevailing, 101-98.
“We thought we lost but his foot was on the line,” said Tatum, who had 24 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win. “It was a crazy night but we ended up winning.”
And winning is what the Celtics have done a lot of when facing the Sixers in recent years.
Brad Stevens has an 18-6 record against Philly, with half of those losses coming in Stevens’ first year on the job.
But success of the past will have no impact on what the Celtics do tonight in the opener, a time when everyone is excited and Tatum — more than most — tends to play some of his best basketball.
Tatum admits there’s a different brand of excitement gearing up for the opener, the kind of excitement that seemingly brings out the best he has to offer.
“Everyone’s emotions are high, ready to go out and play,” Tatum said. “It takes a couple minutes before everything settles down. It’s gonna be fun.”
But regardless of how well Tatum scores the ball, his focus remains on doing whatever he can to impact winning.
“We’ve been working hard in preseason and training camp,” he said. “You try to win every game you can. This is no different.”
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