In Sunday’s series opener against the Miami Heat at TD Garden, Jayson Tatum repeatedly made the visitors pay for sending a second defender at him.

It’s a microcosm of what happened throughout the regular season, as the five-time All-Star maintained a steadfast commitment to making the right play, punishing teams as a facilitator.For Miami, doubling Tatum often led to a clean look from beyond the arc for Sam Hauser, who posted personal playoff-highs with 12 points and four made threes on six attempts.

The former Duke Blue Devil leveraging the Heat’s efforts to minimize his impact as a scorer against them was crucial to Tatum’s teammates finding an early rhythm and allowing the Celtics to play from ahead.

“That was a beautiful game from him,” stated Kristaps Porzingis after Boston’s 114-94 win in Game 1. “Getting those assists, especially early on. He was not forcing anything too much, getting everybody involved.

“I think it’s (a) huge credit to him, this game, how we all played as a team because he got everybody feeling good early on, and that was like (a) perfect game from him. Of course, for sure, he will say that he can play better, and he can. But overall, I think that was a beautiful performance.”

And for as much as the defending Eastern Conference champions tried to slow down the two-time First Team All-NBA selection, including with their vaunted zone defense, he still put a team-high 23 points on the board.