Had Jayson Tatum hit his shot at the end of regulation, Larry Bird would still be alone atop the Celtics’ single-game scoring list.
Had the officials given Tatum credit for the continuation basket late in overtime, he likely would have finished the game with a new Celtics record of 61 points.
But neither happened.
Instead, 13,198 days after Bird founded Boston’s 60-Point Club in 1985, it inducted a new member. Tatum matched Bird’s total Friday in the Celtics’ 143-140 win over the San Antonio Spurs at TD Garden.
“Any time you’re mentioned with a top 10 player of all time, that’s a good thing,” Tatum said. “I think that’s something I never would have imagined at this age. I just play the game I love and try to play at a high level. But when you sit back after the game and think about what it means for your name to be up there, just us two, it’s a big deal. I’m grateful for the position I’m in.”
The composition of their respective 60-point nights wasn’t similar for Tatum and Bird.
Bird, then 28, made just one 3-pointer, half of the Celtics’ total treys in the game on March 12, 1985. It was an Atlanta Hawks home game, but they played in New Orleans, decades before the Big Easy would get its own team. Bird shot 22-for-36 from the floor and 15-for-16 from the free-throw line in 43 minutes. He had 32 points in a 14 minute stretch in the second half.
The Celtics led the Hawks by seven at halftime, by 11 after three quarters and coasted to the end in the 126-115 win. Dennis Johnson had 17 assists and current Boston president Danny Ainge had 13 points for the Celtics, who had six players score in double figures.
Bird had previously held the franchise’s single-game record with 53 in a game in 1983. That surpassed Sam Jones’ 51 points, a mark that had stood for almost 18 years. Bird’s 53 stayed atop the mountain for almost exactly two years until Kevin McHale scored 56 on March 3, 1985.
McHale took himself out of that game with 1:25 left and the score out of reach. Bird never understood why. When asked about it for a Boston.com oral history in 2017, he said McHale should have gone for 70. He told McHale he planned to break it.
Nine days later, he did. Bird scored 60, a mark that hasn’t been surpassed in 36 years. Bird had 10 games of 48 or more points in his career and four of 50 or more.
Bird fans will say Tatum’s total should get an asterisk because he had to go to overtime to get his 60. But Tatum’s piece of history was loaded with clutch shot after clutch shot. The Celtics’ erased a 32-point deficit to win in overtime and need every point Tatum scored to get there.
“To come back and win, this was a great night,” Tatum said.
Tatum had 14 of the Celtics’ 16 points in the first quarter as the rest of the team shot 1-for-13. He added 10 in the second quarter and five in the third as the Celtics’ cut their deficit to 103-90. He had 21 in the fourth to help Boston force overtime and 10 in the extra session to secure the win.
Tatum’s 60 points came on 20-for 37 shooting, including 5-of-7 3-pointers. He made 15 of 17 free throws.
FOURNIER FINDING THE RANGE? - On a night where most Celtics not named Tatum had off shooting nights, Evan Fournier showed signs of life. The former Magic guard, who has struggled since returning from COVID-19, had eight points on 3-for-6 shooting.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING - The Celtics’ reward for their wild win was picking a game up on the Hawks. Atlanta’s 126-104 loss to the 76ers allowed Boston to move into a tie for fifth at 34-30. Both teams are 1.5 games behind the idle Knicks (35-28), who next play at Houston, Sunday.
They’re both a half-game ahead of Miami (33-30), who is at Cleveland, Saturday.
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