De’Anthony Melton’s Reaction to Jayson Tatum’s Dagger vs. Sixers

De'Anthony Melton discussed the final defensive possession against Jayson Tatum after Saturday's loss.

The Philadelphia 76ers acquired De’Anthony Melton from the Memphis Grizzlies in the offseason for moments like the final defensive possession against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

With the game tied at 107, the Celtics had 5.9 seconds to make something happen before the game went into overtime. De’Anthony Melton was tasked with covering Celtics star Jayson Tatum. While the All-Star was having a relatively tough night, it was evident the final shot could end up in his hands.

The ball was inbounded to Marcus Smart. Tatum took off, running side-to-side with Melton. Smart delivered a pass just perfect enough to avoid a deflection from Melton and get into the hands of Tatum. 

“Man, he came down here, they threw him the ball,” Melton explained. “He pulled back.”

One quick stop caused Melton to give up just enough space for Tatum to pull up and get a clean look. While Melton contested the shot as best as he could, Tatum knocked down the 26-footer with confidence.

“It’s probably a shot he works on and stuff like that,” Melton continued. “I feel like just best case scenario I could do is just make it difficult for him. He hit a tough one. Sometimes, you gotta live with those.”

After the game, Tatum admitted he’s worked on that shot “1,000 times,” as Melton assumed. Practice makes perfect, and the Celtics star hit the perfect shot at the right time.

“I felt like we did a pretty good job. With a player like him, we got to stay on him the whole game. He started getting some open looks, and that’s all some of these players need to get going,” Melton continued. “We just got to stay on them, keeping making it tough, don’t let up.”

The Sixers did a solid job of preventing Tatum from going off on Saturday. During the All-Star’s 36-minute run, he shot 7-17 from the field and 3-8 from beyond the arc. Holding a player like Tatum to 18 points is a decent defensive accomplishment. Unfortunately, the one shot the Sixers couldn’t prevent him from making resulted in a three-point loss for Philadelphia. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.