The Boston Celtics will need more from their star in crunch time if they're to bounce back against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
Jayson Tatum and the C's fell to the Warriors in Monday night's Game 5, 104-94, giving Golden State a 3-2 series lead. The Warriors sealed their victory with a dominant fourth quarter in which they kept Tatum silent, as they've done throughout the series.
Celtics-Warriors takeaways: Turnovers cost C's in pivotal Game 5
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SIGN UP HERE Tatum finished with 27 points in the defeat, but he was 1-of-5 from the field with only five points in the final frame. That follows a Game 4 performance in which he had only three points in the fourth quarter.
"I had a couple shots that were short," Tatum said of his fourth-quarter struggles in Game 5. "I just got to not fade as much. Use my legs. I mean, you're going to be a little more tired in the fourth than you are in the first quarter.
"You got to get your legs a little more under you on a couple of those shots. Give yourself a chance."
For this NBA Finals, Tatum is shooting just 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) in the final 12 minutes.
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Those numbers will have to improve as the C's head back to Boston for a do-or-die Game 6 on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. ET.