NBA 2021-22: Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum reveals his toughest season moment

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum discussed his toughest moment of the NBA 2021-22 season after his team made the Finals.

It is no secret that there were growing pains for the Boston Celtics this NBA season, especially in the first half. The Celtics were as low as 11th in the Eastern Conference standings. One of the games that dropped the Celtics to that position was a loss to the New York Knicks in early January. After completing the Celtics’ turnaround to reach the NBA Finals, Jayson Tatum revealed the most harrowing moment of the season for him: RJ Barrett’s game-winner over him after the Celtics blew a 25-point lead.

Revealing the same, Tatum said, “The toughest moment for me was blowing that 25-point lead against New York and RJ Barrett hit the game-winning shot over me. That was the lowest moment for me. I think shortly after that, things started to turn around.”

The Celtics led the Knicks 57-32 at one point in the second quarter before losing to the Barrett buzzer-beater. Former Celtic Evan Fournier also had 41 points in the game. That game took Boston’s record to a mediocre 18-21. Tatum was right about things starting to turn around from there, as Boston would remarkably go 33-10 from this point to finish in the second place in the eastern conference. 

The turnaround wouldn’t stop in the regular season. The Celtics would sweep a tough seventh seed in the form of Brooklyn Nets before defeating the Bucks and Heat in two hard-fought seven-game series. Tatum’s season from an individual perspective also saw a massive turnaround as he was named an all-star for the third straight year before making his first-ever all-NBA first team. After the Conference Finals, he was also awarded the Larry Bird trophy for being the best player in the series.