The Ridiculous Sequence of Events That Set Up Jayson Tatum's Buzzer Beater vs. Brooklyn

Jayson Tatum saved the Boston Celtics from themselves Tuesday night when rose up from the left elbow and drilled a buzzer-beater to beat the Brooklyn Nets.

“We got the ball to the MVP, and he took us home,” Paul George said after the game. And usually, a knockout punch like Tatum’s comes at the end of a hard-fought, grind-it-out kind of game that requires something special to pull out the win. And while we can certainly paint that picture here if we want, the reality is … some really dumb things had to happen to put Tatum in that situation.

Let’s comb through the sequence of events, some debatable, some outright head-shaking, that set Tatum up to be the hero.

4th Q, 10.6 remaining, 116-111 Boston: Derrick White intentionally fouls Mikel Brown Jr.

This is up for some debate. On the broadcast, Brian Scalabrine noted that three-pointers are the most dangerous thing in this moment, and fouling a three-point shooter would be death. That Celtics had a problem with that on opening day in Detroit, and the Nets were on a bit of a heater from three, so Joe Mazzulla chose to play the math game.

“The bigger question is, and there's no right answer, it's fouling up five. It’s interesting,” Mazzulla said after the game. “Fouling up three … people just say it because it's one of those things there. But the data on it is like 50-50, and even when you foul up three, you invite losing into the equation, and you have more variables, and you do the same thing when you're up five.

“You want to be able to control for as many variables as you can, but it puts you in a spot where you have to be able to make free throws, and you have to be able to rebound. So no right answer on that one considering our inability to keep Porter off the 3-point line and not wanting to foul. We figured we'd control more variables, and we missed a free throw, had a backcourt turnover, and we put ourselves in that tough spot, so we’ve got to execute that stuff a little bit better.”

The decision to concede points in that situation is certainly debatable. Brown made two free throws to cut it to three, so all Boston needed to do was hit their free throws and close this out. That doesn’t always happen though, as we found out.

4th Q, 4.2 remaining, 116-113 Boston: Jayson Tatum misses his second free throw

I know Scal said he just needs to make one, but it’s Jayson Tatum, and he should have made both.

“I should have never missed a free throw,” Tatum said afterwards. “So like a domino effect, a bunch of little plays led us to that. So it was like, yeah, maybe Neemi shouldn't have fouled, but I should have never put Neem in that situation by missing the free throw. So that was on me.”

Speaking of that foul

4th Q, 4.2 remaining, 117-113 Boston: Neemias Queta fouls Julius Randle trying to rebound Tatum’s miss

This was a boneheaded play for a couple of reasons. First, and most obviously, there is ZERO need to go for that rebound. You’re up four with 4.2 seconds remaining and the clock starts once the ball is touched, so Randle would have had to turn, dribble, and fire a heave, which would probably take about three full seconds to reach the rim. If he miraculously made it, it would still be a one-point game with a chance to make it three with almost no time left.

Mazzulla even said to Queta “What you’re supposed to do is step back” as Queta was walking off the floor. Maybe he could have reminded Queta of that before the free throw, but he’s an NBA player who should have understood time and score. Also, NBA teams are required to line guys up in the lane, so there was no option to concede the rebound by not sending anyone where in the first place.

Secondly, this was Queta’s sixth foul, meaning Mitchell Robinson had to come back in. Really a complete loss of awareness from Queta.

4th Q, 3.0 remaining, 117-114 Boston: Mitchell Robinson misses two free throws

The ultimate disaster scenario unfolds. Randle missed his second free throw on purpose and it rolled off to Robinson’s side. If it had rolled a little more, Tatum might have gotten it instead, but Robinson snared it and missed both free throws. He only needed one.

4th Q, 0.2 remaining, 117-114 Boston: Brown Jr. hits the game-tying basket

This was a great play design from coach Jordi Fernandez. Watch Day’Ron Sharpe (#20) and Randle (#30) screen their OWN men to prevent them from switching out onto Brown Jr. to challenge the shot.

Mikel Brown Jr hits a the 3 to send the game into OT!!

This was a really good out of bounds play!!#DifferentHere #NetsWorld pic.twitter.com/hdlu89Itsd
— In The Arena (@_InTheArena_) October 28, 2026

This forced Derrick White to chase him to the corner. White, to his credit, recognized it right away, but that tiny hesitation was all Brown needed to this that shot, which qualifies as “ridiculous” for the purposes of this piece.

OT, 1:02 remaining, 124-121 Brooklyn: Julius Randle offensive foul on offensive rebound attempt

Randle had five fouls and the Nets were in the penalty. The Nets had momentum, largely because Randle was impossible to guard all game (where did I hear that one before?). The push in the back did three things: It got rid of Brooklyn’s best player, it killed their momentum, and it gave Boston free points.

OT, 6.1 remaining, 124-123 Brooklyn: Brown Jr. misses a layup

He just biffed it. He just has to make this layup in this situation.

OT, 3.9 remaining, 124-123 Brooklyn: Brown Jr. misses another layup

He did not need to shoot this. The Celtics had no choice but to foul him. They actually got lucky that he caught the ball so close to the hoop so he could go up after just one dribble.

Mikel Brown Jr. Then Gets The Inbound With Six Seconds Left.

The Nets Are Winning. There's Zero Need To Shoot. And He Takes A Contested Layup Anyway... And Misses.

Right After One Of The Biggest Mistakes Of Your Career, You Do This?

Are You Kidding Me? 🤯 pic.twitter.com/1zCis94A6q
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) October 28, 2026

Under almost any other circumstance … a faster defender, a pass thrown half a second sooner … the foul would have been given and the game could have gone very differently. It’s almost like one of those football plays where you allow the team to run the ball in at the goal line, except, oh, I don’t know, they do something like throw the ball instead and it gets intercepted. You know, something totally outlandish that would never happen.

Anyway, this had to go absolutely comically wrong for Brown Jr. and the Nets to set up the coup de grace.

JAYSON TATUM GAME-WINNER 🚨

TATUM CALLS GAME VS. NETS. OMGGGG 🤯 pic.twitter.com/7OrT7gAGke
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 28, 2026

Sometimes a million things need to go wrong for something to go right. You don’t know how things will end until they end.

“I told him to thank Neemi for fouling at the end, so that he had a position to be able to hit the game winner,” Mazzulla said after the game, with an overflowing helping of snark. “So to me, it's just great teamwork and caring about the guy next to you and wanting the other guy to really succeed. So I thought it was a very unselfish backcourt foul by Neemi, so that JT could be in the position to make the game winner.”

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