Yahoo Sport 
Jayson Tatum drops 51 points in Celtics' blowout win over Wizards
Jayson Tatum went off on Sunday afternoon.
The Boston Celtics star put up 51 points in their blowout 116-87 win against the Washington Wizards, marking the third 50-point game of his career.
Tatum shot 18-of-28 from the field and a career-high 9-of-14 from behind the arc in an incredible showing for the 23-year-old. He was just three assists shy of a triple-double, too, ending with 10 rebounds and seven assists.
"To see that first shot, that first 3 go in, you kind of get it off your back,” Tatum said, via MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “The game just kind of opened up. Then obviously, when you get in that zone, there's nothing like it. You just keep going."
He finally got his 50th point late in the fourth quarter after sinking a heavily contested layup over Deni Avdija.
50 PIECE FOR TATUM 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7pgzV6ycpU
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 23, 2022
Tatum then hit a free throw to get to 51, which ended his day.
With 48 points after three quarters, he was on pace to snap the Celtics’ single-game scoring record of 60 points — a figure he hit last season to tie Larry Bird's record — but he ended up well short.
Tatum had missed 20 straight 3-pointers before getting one to fall on Sunday, too.
"I missed 20 straight, today I scored 51. It's just on to the next one,” he said, via Spotrac’s Keith Smith. “You don't get too down on yourself. You don't get too excited. We got another one on Tuesday."
The Celtics and Wizards were in a tight battle for most of the first half until Boston ended the half on a 14-0 run to take a 15-point lead at the break. From there, the Celtics cruised to the 29-point blowout win, which snapped a two-game losing skid.
Jaylen Brown added 18 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 4-of-9 from behind the arc in the win, and Marcus Smart finished with 11 points. As a team, the Celtics shot nearly 49% from 3-point range.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 19 points and seven assists in the loss, and Avdija added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench. The Wizards have now lost three of their last four, all of which occurred at home.
