Jayson Tatum on final possession in Cleveland: “I probably should have went a little faster”  

It was the perfect cap to one of the worst nine-minute spans of a nearly-flawless Celtics season. The Celtics, who led by 22 early in the fourth quarter, trailed by 1 with 19 seconds to go after a 23-point fourth quarter by Dean Wade.

Jayson Tatum, who started the night hot, but struggled in the final period (1-9 FG), dribbled up the court looking to find a mismatch on offense. With about nine seconds to play, Derrick White set him up with a pick, effectively bringing Darius Garland – who the Celtics had been trying to hunt defensively all night – into the action.

But, Jarrett Allen never switched back onto White, instead helping Garland double-team Tatum. And, Garland himself maintained a pretty good contest on a difficult fadeaway jumper.

Initially, a foul was called on Garland for making contact during the contest, but crew chief Zach Zarba said in the pool report that the call was overturned after a Cavalier’s challenge because “there was clear and conclusive evidence that the leg extension by Tatum created that marginal contact with the defender where otherwise contact wouldn’t have been made.”

The overturned call meant the Celtics and Cavs lined up for a jump ball with 0.7 seconds left – not enough time for Boston to call a time out and maintain possession.

Both Jayson Tatum and Joe Mazzulla acknowledged after the game that Tatum should have gone faster, and given the team a couple of chances. While neither elaborated much on that note, more time on the clock could have given them a chance for an offensive rebound or even to foul Cleveland and try their hand on offense once more.

“Obviously, I know how much time was on the clock,” Tatum said. “Probably should have went a little faster, just in case some s*** like that happened, maybe we have more time, or another opportunity.”

It’s not the first time that the Celtics have run down the clock a couple seconds too long while trailing. Most infamously, time expired in Game 4 of the Conference Semifinals against Philadelphia and Marcus Smart three didn’t count. But, the Celtics have been effective in clutch time this year, holding an 18-9 record in games in which the score is within five points within the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime.

“I just tried to get a clean look,” Tatum said. “In hindsight, I probably should have went a little bit earlier to give us more time and another opportunity.”

Joe Mazzulla echoed that sentiment, noting that White had brought Garland into the action and that he was okay with the shot taken. Mazzulla also said he tried to call a time out with 4.6 seconds to play, but that the referees did not grant it.

“Down one in that situation, you try to get a couple more possessions, and we just got to get into it faster, go faster, and try to extend the game,” Mazzulla said.

Still, while the final possession went awry, it wasn’t the primary reason for the largest blown fourth quarter lead for the Celtics organization since 1997, per NBC Sports Boston’s Dick Lipe. A Dean Wade masterclass — that included a perfect 7-7 FG performance in the fourth — and ice-cold Celtics offense combined to put the best team in the league in position to lose the ball game and end their eleven-game winning streak

“They always say the game isn’t won or lost on the last play,” Tatum said. “There’s a lot of things we didn’t do well in that fourth quarter that put us in that position.”