Uncalled-for: Celtics’ Superstar expresses his Displeasure with the NBA Statement
If Jayson Tatum wasn’t already irritated by Friday’s officiating, Saturday’s announcement won’t help.
The flagrant foul that was part of the sequence that resulted in his second technical foul and ejection from the Celtics’ 125-119 victory over the Sixers has been reduced to a common foul.
The flagrant foul wasn’t the only thing Tatum was upset about, but the technical came right after the egregious foul and before the third-quarter break.
“Following a loose ball foul that was called on Jayson, Jayson continued to complain and was asked multiple times to head to his bench,” said pool official Bill Kennedy of the ejection. “He continued to complain about the foul called on the floor and overtly gestures toward the officials and was assessed a second technical foul.”
Before being ejected, Tatum had 21 points and seven rebounds.
“I was extremely surprised,” Tatum remarked following the game. “You’ve all seen what occurred. You might not remember what I said, but I guess it doesn’t matter at this point. That does not sit well with me. One of the assistant coaches who was with me at the time disagrees. But what does it actually matter? It’s like the referee’s word versus ours.”
Joe Mazzulla said he liked Tatum’s energy after his team overcame the star’s absence and won anyhow.
“I actually like some of that,” Mazzulla admitted. “I believe some of that is significant. Obviously, you don’t want that to get in the way of winning, but I believe that type of enthusiasm and caring about it, I’d rather see that than nothing at all. Pick and select your areas occasionally, but I’m not going to say anything to him.”
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How Nick Nurse Reacted To Jayson Tatum’s Ejection During Celtics-76ers Game
When the Celtics faced the 76ers on Friday night, Jayson Tatum was ejected for the second time in his seven-year NBA career.
Tatum exacerbated Boston’s already difficult task of shaking off a gritty, dirt dog-like effort from an undermanned Philadelphia club.
Tatum was called with a loose ball foul on 76ers player Robert Covington in the final seconds of the third quarter, which was later raised to a flagrant 1. In reaction, Tatum became animated with the refs, earning him his second technical foul of the night and dismissal.
Boston’s No. 1 star, however, wasn’t the only one displeased with the officiating throughout the night, as mentioned by Sixers head coach Nick Nurse after the Celtics escaped with a 125-119 win at TD Garden.
“Wasn’t there a lot of barking from both teams?” And they lost a player, which was sad in my opinion. “It pains me to see that,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “Especially someone like him, you know, (someone) everyone comes to watch play.” I’m not sure what happened, but both teams’ players were clearly frustrated.”
The atmosphere was very playoff-like, although the game ended with some preseason-ish rotations from both sides.
Tatum’s early exit stranded the Celtics, who were already without Kristaps Porzingis (calf injury), for the fourth quarter. At that point, Boston still hadn’t grown a notable enough lead to ease the concerns and threats of a loss without the assistance of its four-time All-Star.
Taking notice of that, Philadelphia — without Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Nicholas Batum — didn’t back down, giving the Celtics a run for their money.
“Our guys, just across the board, we were fighting and I think we totally outplayed them and just thought we didn’t get any breaks at the end,” he said. “With a lot of new people tonight, we were figuring out a lot of things on the fly.” Again, excellent work. We gave ourselves a shot.”
While courageous, the opportunity was unable to prevent Boston from advancing to an NBA-best 15-4 record and maintaining first place in the Eastern Conference.