Top 5 Greatest Jayson Tatum Playoff Moments (2024)

The Boston Celtics sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals leads to their second NBA Finals appearance in three years, specifically, the second chance at an NBA championship in the still-young career of their superstar small forward, Jayson Tatum. At just 26 years old, Tatum has built up an impressive post-season resumè. Namely, he has scored the most playoff points in a player's first seven post-seasons in NBA history (2,600), more than Michael Jordan (2,425), Larry Bird (2,520), and any other all-time great playoff performer in the history of the league.

Jayson Tatum has made the post-season in every one of his first seven NBA seasons, and he's given the NBA world plenty of moments to remember as he looks to finally lead his team over the hump to win a championship in 2024.

With that being said, here are the five greatest moments from Tatum's first seven playoff appearances leading up to his hopeful first NBA championship win in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

5 A Spin and a Win

Tatum's last-second lay-up gave the Celtics a victory at home

The Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets were in a tight contest during Game 1 of their first-round series in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, and it sure helped to start the 2022 post-season off with a bang.

Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving, who had just left Boston to sign with Brooklyn in the off-season of 2019, played against his former team and former star teammates Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Irving would perform spectacularly in the opening game of the series, finishing with 39 points while shooting 81.4 percent true shooting from the field, but it was Jayson Tatum who would steal the show in the waning seconds of the contest.

The Nets led the Celtics 114-113 with 12 seconds to go when former Brooklyn Nets superstar, Kevin Durant, missed a long three-pointer while trying to beat the shot clock buzzer, giving the Celtics a chance to win the game after Al Horford secured the rebound. Boston had a timeout but decided against using it. Jaylen Brown crossed into the middle of the lane and passed out to the former Celtics' guard, Marcus Smart, with 3 seconds remaining. Smart then pump-faked two Nets defenders out of the picture, leading to a pass to a cutting Tatum, who spun around Irving and finished the game-winning lay-up as time expired.

Tatum's smart and timely cut for the lay-up gave Boston a 1-0 series lead in a series that the Celtics would eventually sweep. One could argue that Tatum ripping the game away from Brooklyn contributed to a momentum shift that lasted for the entire series, as his first playoff game-winner would completely deflate both Irving and Durant. Tatum finished with 31 points on 66.7 percent true shooting to win the first game of the series.

4 Performing When it Matters Most

A heroic fourth quarter against a career-long rival kept Boston's season alive

In 2023, the Celtics found themselves in a tough Eastern Conference Semi-Final series against the 2023 NBA MVP, Joel Embiid, James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers were a familiar foe for Boston, as this series marked the third time since Tatum's rookie season that the two teams met in the playoffs.

After Game 5 of the series, the 76ers found themselves with a 3-2 series lead, and a chance to seal the series with a Game 6 win at home in the Wells Fargo Center. The Celtics needed someone to come through to hopefully force a Game 7 back in Boston, and to keep their series alive. Through the first three-quarters of this elimination game, Jayson Tatum was the furthest thing from their hero.

To say Tatum struggled through the first three frames would be a massive understatement. Before the beginning of the fourth quarter, Tatum attempted 13 shots with only one make, seeming to vanish when his team needed him most. To this point, it looked like all hope was lost, as it was inconceivable that Boston could win a tight playoff game while their superstar played so horribly. The good thing for Boston, though, was that Tatum was about to flip the game upside down.

To start the fourth quarter, Tatum would take two trips to the free throw line, making four straight free throws. Apparently, this was all he needed to start catching fire. Tatum's first field goal in the fourth period, and second field goal of the game, came with only 4:14 remaining, as both teams struggled to score towards the finish line.

Tatum would knock down a three-pointer to give the Celtics an 84-83 lead, then with 3:35 left, he would step back and knock down another three-ball from 28 feet, stretching the Celtics' lead to four. With 1:53 left to play, Tatum would knock down another long ball to give the Celtics an eight-point advantage, then put in the dagger with another hit from long-range with 38 seconds to go. The Celtics would win Game 6 by a score of 95-84, forcing a Game 7 at home in Boston.

When the game concluded, Tatum finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists. His 16 fourth-quarter points and four-for-four three-point shooting in the last four minutes and change in the final quarter gave the Celtics new life, and all the momentum heading into the series' pivotal final game. Tatum's late-game masterpiece played a major part in erasing any 'non-clutch' label that could be attributed to him, as his fourth-quarter performance after a terrible shooting night showed that he could answer the bell for his franchise when the lights are shining at their brightest.

3 Advancing in a Big Way

Tatum's record-breaking night sent a rival home in satisfying fashion

Tatum's previously mentioned Game 6 performance against the 76ers led to a somehow more impressive showing in the following Game 7 in the TD Garden. Tatum and company looked to get hot out of the gates against the 76ers, and they'd do just that in this high-stakes matchup in which one team would be sent packing for the summer. Tatum made sure that it wouldn't be his team to leave the building that night with an early vacation.

From the outset, Tatum showed that he was looking to be aggressive, driving and finishing at the rim consistently. This aggression led to an incredible first-half scoring outburst, as Tatum dropped 25 points on 56.3 percent shooting from the field before the half-time buzzer sounded, and his three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining in the half gave the Celtics a 55-52 lead heading into the break. Little did the TD Garden crowd and the NBA world know, but Tatum would unbelievably outdo himself in the second half.

Tatum would once again come out firing, but this time, it was a long-range shooting attack instead of his point-blank shot-making and mid-range finesse from the first two quarters. Tatum would get open look after open look from deep because of Philadelphia's drop coverage, leading to a 17-point third quarter for the Celtics' incredible scorer, bumping his total for the game up to 42 before entering the final 12 minutes. His four threes on 80 percent shooting from distance helped to put the game away early, but Tatum wasn't finished just yet.

As the Celtics' half-time lead of three ballooned to 26 for the start of the fourth quarter, Tatum decided that he still had something left in the tank for his playoff rival. After several lay-ups and a couple of free throws, Tatum sat at a total of 48 points with 8:08 remaining in the game. 47 seconds later, Tatum would find himself matched up with Embiid in the right corner. With the ball in his hands, Tatum jabbed, hesitated and fired a three-pointer right over the reigning MVP's hands, sinking through the net to give Tatum 51 points to top off his iconic Game 7 performance. The Celtics would beat the 76ers 112-88, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Tatum's awesome scoring night broke the NBA record for the highest individual scoring performance in a Game 7 in NBA Playoff history. Funnily enough, the previous record of 50 was set just 16 days earlier when Stephen Curry scored 50 points in the Golden State Warriors' Game 7 victory against the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2023 post-season. Tatum joined Curry as the only players in NBA history to ever surpass the 50-point threshold in a Game 7, adding another accolade to Tatum's growing list of achievements.

2 The Ferocious and Fearless Dunk that Announced Tatum's Presence

A rookie Tatum would make a statement against possibly the greatest player of all-time

The Celtics and then-rookie Jayson Tatum found themselves in a position that perhaps even they never thought they'd be in during the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Though they finished as the second-seed in the Eastern Conference with 55 wins, it was due in large part to the play of their star point guard, Kyrie Irving, who averaged 24.4 points on 49.1 percent shooting from the field and 40.8 percent three-point shooting during the regular season. The only problem was that Irving missed the entirety of the 2018 post-season due to an infection that was discovered in his knee while undergoing additional surgery from a previous injury in 2015.

Without one of their stars in Irving, the show was run completely by the 19-year-old Tatum, the 21-year-old Jaylen Brown in his second season, and their defensive-minded point guard, Marcus Smart. Somehow, these young Celtics proved to be a problem, running through the Eastern Conference through the first two rounds of the playoffs with a first-round series win against the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games, and a five-game series victory in Tatum's first playoff series against the 76ers.

Now, the Celtics have managed to find themselves in another Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals, only one win away from an improbable NBA Finals berth. On the opposite side, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were ready to stop the Celtics' 'miracle' run, though Tatum looked to continue his stellar play from the previous two rounds of the postseason.

In Game 7, Tatum totaled 15 points through three quarters in a close game. In the fourth, Tatum would start the quarter with a floater for points number 16 and 17, and two made free throws with 9:12 left in the game brought Tatum's total to 19 while bringing the Celtics' deficit to just one point. His next two points, though, would be arguably the most memorable of his incredibly young career.

With the Cavaliers leading 71-67 over Boston with 6:42 left to play, Tatum would receive a pass from Smart, with plans of driving to the basket with evil intentions. Rotating into the paint and standing in his path was James, waiting to meet Tatum at the summit. Tatum would proceed to drive down the middle of the lane, rise up and throw down an incredible poster dunk over James, which still may be Tatum's greatest career highlight even six years later. Tatum was visibly fired up after he came back down from the rafters to jam the ball through the rim over his legendary opponent, bumping James with his chest before running back down to the other end of the floor.

Though the Celtics would ultimately suffer defeat at the hands of James and Cleveland, Tatum delivered a moment that the basketball community will never forget, courtesy of one of the most memorable slam dunks in the history of the NBA Playoffs.

1 An Early Legacy-Defining Performance Forces Another Game 7

Tatum would not let his team go home with one more legendary playoff scoring night

As far as individual playoff games go, Tatum's magnum opus may just be his Game 6 performance in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022. The Bucks, the reigning NBA champions from 2021, led the series 3-2 as they had a chance to close out the series at home. The Celtics would, of course, manage to escape this series as the victor, making it to the 2022 NBA Finals, but it's the manner in which they did it that makes their 2022 post-season so incredible. In a hostile environment, in an elimination game, Tatum would once again step up to help his team live to play another day.

Jayson Tatum started out shooting slightly under his expected percentage, though he scored 18 first-half points against the defending champions to help his team to build a 10-point half-time lead. On the other side, reigning NBA Finals MVP and two-time NBA MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo was trying his very hardest to finish the series in front of his home crowd, totaling 21 points and eight rebounds heading into the half-time break. Though Tatum had played a spectacular first half in Game 6, he'd have to turn things up even further to match the production of Antetokounmpo, and as one could guess, he did just that.

The Bucks and Celtics were locked in a tight match as the clock kept ticking in the second half. The Bucks had just come back from a 14-point deficit to bring the game back to within four points when Tatum launched a three-pointer and knocked it down to extend the Boston lead back to seven with 7:19 left to go. With 5:40 remaining, Tatum's seventh hit from three-point range in the contest pushed the Celtics' lead to eight.

His fourth-quarter scoring onslaught would continue, as his and-one lay-up over two Bucks would effectively be the dagger, bringing the Celtics' lead to 14 after the free throw to complete the play. Two more free throws would give Tatum a total of 46 points as the Celtics defeated the Bucks in Game 6.

Tatum's night was very reminiscent of LeBron James' Game 6 performance in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, when he totaled 45 points and 15 rebounds in what is now known as his 'legacy game.' What made Tatum's performance a little different was that he had an opponent on the other side that kept up with his production and scoring output for the entirety of the contest, as Antetokounmpo totaled a stunning 44 points, 20 rebounds, and six assists in a tough