Jayson Tatum on Celtics' late surge: 'We've been playing the right way'

The Boston Celtics have won 11 out of their last 13 games after a slow start to the season and look like a dangerous team in the Eastern Conference three weeks before the playoffs.

"Somewhere in January, we kind of changed the course of the season around," Jayson Tatum told Yahoo Sports. "It was a little rocky at the beginning, but our demeanor never changed. We still believed in ourselves and we knew that we were close, so we just had to get there."

The Celtics were sitting one game under .500 at the end of December and were dealing with COVID-related issues and injuries, as well as adjusting to new head coach Ime Udoka and staff.

"It's a long season, and I understand that. It's not time to be flipping tables and throwing chairs," Udoka said. "We've had a lot of ups and downs, but once we get through that adversity, we'll be good."

A lot of people wrote the Celtics off as a contender in the East to start the new year, but the late surge to sit in fourth place in the conference is pretty remarkable.

Tatum is averaging 32.6 points per game since the All-Star break and had his best game of season in a 126-120 win over the Brooklyn Nets on March 6 where he posted 54 points.

"There is a moment in the game where it's like, 'All right, this is my day. You're on a roll, you're feeling it,' and that was my night," Tatum said with a laugh.

The Celtics are now rolling with only nine games left in the season, and the way Tatum is shooting and with the chemistry flowing on the court, they're threatening to make some noise in the postseason.

"We've been playing the right way, and we've been having fun doing it. We're just trying to compete at a high level on a nightly basis, and it's been working," Tatum said.