Jayson Tatum Hits the Overtime Buzzer-Beater — 40 Points as Celtics Beat Nets 125–124

BOSTON

The game was Brooklyn's to lose twice in the last three seconds, and Jayson Tatum made sure the Nets lost it. Boston trailed 124–123 in overtime when Mikel Brown Jr., up one with the ball, drove for a layup with 2.3 seconds left instead of pulling it out. He missed. Paul George pulled down the rebound, Boston called time, and Derrick White inbounded to Tatum, who took two dribbles against Brown and buried a 17-foot turnaround jumper as the clock hit zero. A referee-initiated review upheld the call. Celtics 125, Nets 124 — and Tatum, finger in the air, walked into a crowd that had spent all night waiting for exactly this version of him.

It was his first buzzer-beater since returning from a torn Achilles, and his first 40-point game since the injury. “Was a hell of a feeling,” Tatum said afterward. “Just kind of getting back to doing things that I used to do before I was injured.” He tore the Achilles during the 2025 playoffs and returned in March; on Tuesday, on the second night of a back-to-back, he played 42 minutes and never turned the ball over once.

How it got to the buzzer

Neither team led by more than eight all night. Brooklyn led 61–56 at halftime behind Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle, mostly because Boston shot 2-for-16 from three in the first half. The Celtics found the range in the third — eight threes in the quarter — and carried an 86–82 lead into the fourth, only for Brooklyn to punch back: Randle scored 12 of his 24 in the fourth, and the Nets led 109–104 with under three minutes left in regulation.

Boston won this game without ever shooting well: 45 percent from the field and 11-for-41 from three, against a Brooklyn team that outshot and out-rebounded the Celtics. What kept Boston attached was effort and the line. Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman both dove on the floor for the same loose ball late in the third, the play that woke the Garden up, and George — 36 years old, on the second night of a back-to-back — played the entire fourth quarter, scoring nine of his 20 in it and carrying the non-Tatum minutes. And when the shots wouldn't fall, Tatum simply lived at the stripe, attempting more free throws by himself (22) than the entire Nets team made (17).

Boston clawed back in front, 117–114, and Mitchell Robinson then missed two free throws with three seconds left — the crack Brooklyn needed. Brown, the sixth pick in June's draft out of Louisville, hit the tying three in the final second of regulation, his 13th point of the fourth quarter, and the game went to overtime at 117–117.

The overtime

Randle hit the first two baskets of overtime to put Brooklyn up 121–117, then fouled out with 24 points and nine rebounds. Brown's 32-foot three with 2:01 left made it 124–119, and the winless Nets were five points from the best win of their young season. They never scored again. Tatum hit two free throws, George hit two more after a Randle foul, and Boston's defense forced miss after miss — Brown missed three times in the final 65 seconds, including the layup that will follow him. Tatum did the rest: six of his 40 came in overtime, and the last two ended it.

Tatum finished 10-for-20 from the field and 18-for-22 from the line — both the makes and the attempts career highs — with five rebounds and eight assists. George added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, Derrick White scored 16, and Jordan Walsh had 15 off a night when Boston's bench and hustle plays kept a cold-shooting team alive. Porter Jr. led Brooklyn with 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Brown finished with 17 in a game that was nearly his breakthrough and became his lesson instead.

Boston is 3–1 and has won three straight, and 12 of its last 13 against Brooklyn. The Nets are 0–4 — close enough on the road against a contender to believe, and close enough to sting all the way home. Up next, both teams play Friday in NBA Cup action: Boston hosts Chicago, and Brooklyn hosts Detroit.

Elsewhere Tonight

• Portland Trail Blazers 136, Los Angeles Lakers 129 — Luka Dončić scored 41 (12-for-22, six threes) one game after dropping 52 on Utah, and it still wasn't enough: Ja Morant and Deni Avdija scored 23 apiece, Jrue Holiday added 22, and Damian Lillard scored 21 including a clutch three with 43 seconds left as Portland won the battle of unbeatens, stayed 3–0, and handed the Lakers (3–1) their first loss.
• New York Knicks 111, Detroit Pistons 97 — Karl-Anthony Towns scored 27 with a season-high 20 rebounds and Jalen Brunson added 23 as the defending champions finally won, riding a 37–13 third quarter to avoid becoming the first defending champion to open 0–4 since the 1969–70 Celtics; Paul Reed led Detroit with 22 and nine rebounds, and Cade Cunningham had 19, nine and eight.
• San Antonio Spurs 130, Sacramento Kings 103 — Julian Champagnie hit eight first-half threes to tie his own Spurs franchise record for a half and finished with 26, Victor Wembanyama added 29 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in 27 minutes, and San Antonio's 80-point first half set league season highs for points, assists and threes in a half; De'Andre Hunter scored 24 for the 0–4 Kings.

Previously's take: a comeback is a storyline until it produces a night like this — 40 points, zero turnovers in 42 minutes, and the last shot of an overtime game, taken against the rookie who forced the extra period, and made. Tatum didn't ease back into being Boston's closer; on Tuesday he just was again.