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In their first game back from the All-Star break, the Boston Celtics visited the Philadelphia 76ers. Generally, most people would expect a slow start from both teams after such a long break. The Celtics had other thoughts.
Boston came out firing on all cylinders, absolutely torching Philly 124-104. It was a full team effort, with the scoring pretty evenly distributed. Two of the top performances came from Jayson Tatum and Luke Kornet, who also connected on a few big plays just minutes apart.
With just under 10 minutes left in the second quarter, Kornet picked up a bad pass from Paul George to kick off a fast break, getting the ball to Tatum before making his way down the court. George made an effort to stunt JT as he crossed half-court, but Jayson got off a slick underhanded pass to Luke as he was filling the lane, ending in an emphatic one-handed dunk.
They kept the connection rolling just over a minute later, this time working in the half-court. Tatum threw a jab step to send PG into a Kornet screen, creating time and space for him to step up to the three-point line and fake the shot. This caused Guerschon Yabusele to leave Luke and step up to JT, and thanks to a quick release and roll from Luke, Tatum was able to drop in a nice bounce pace to set up Kornet for another huge slam.
That wasn’t the last time the duo abused PG and Yabu. Just after the seven-minute mark, Luke and JT were working on the right side of the court, Kornet trying to find Jayson for a handoff. After a few fakes from Tatum, he was able to shed George and receive the pass. With PG out of the picture, Yabu moved to cover Jayson, and thanks to another quick roll from Luke, JT was able to dump it off to him again, this time for a layup through contact.
Jayson finished the game notching his second triple double of the season, just the fourth in his career. He put up 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in 34 minutes, a +19 for the game. Luke Kornet had a well-rounded game himself, with 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Tatum-Kornet connection was extremely fruitful, as it has been through much of the season. Jayson’s playmaking leap coupled with Kornet’s ability to release himself quickly from screens and fill the lane has made for some highly effective plays. The Celtics don’t run pick-and-rolls very often relative to the rest of the league, but I’m sure we’ll see them take advantage of this duo a lot more in the future.
