One of the more under discussed Tatum performances imo is his 50 bomb against Washington in the 2021 play ins

6 comments

1. Pretty sure this is still the all-time (granted, this is only the 5th year coming up) record for most points in a play-in game, and he did it in the first ever play-in game

2. Tatum carried so hard in the play ins and against the Nets that year kinda knew from then he’d take his game to the next level which he did

3. Even more underrated imo is the 50 bomb 4 games later against the Nets. You wanna talk about a winner that just refused to get swept, that was Tatum, walking out there with a one legged Kemba and a bunch of rookies/sophomores and washed vets to steal one from KD, Harden, Kyrie.

   Ultimately overlooked because we got gentlemen’s swept and the Nets injuries made them fall apart. But that healthy Nets team looked like champs, and Tatum plus a valiant effort from Smart stole a game from them in a game where KD and Harden combined for 80 points.

4. The team’s situation that year was so dire. Kemba was a shell of himself due to his knee injury, there was absolutely no depth and it seemed like a reset was the only way out.

   What Brad was able to transform the team into is nothing short of a miracle. Derrick, KP and AL were highway robbery trades and while Jrue was probably traded for market value it was still an incredible and needed trade. Don’t really know if any other GM would have believed in the Jay’s after all the talk about their redundant skill set and inability to coexist.

5. I was actually looking at the box score for this game earlier and it cracked me up. Our scoring leaders were:

   Tatum- 50
   Kemba- 29
   Tristian Thompson- 12

   No one else had double digit points. I think Tatum went 17/17 from the line, and had 23 points just in the 3rd quarter. Still the most points ever scored in a play-in game

6. It’s amazing how you can see a stark difference between this Tatum and our current Tatum