It happened so fast you could have easily missed it if you were standing next to him, but star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum got himself ejected from the Celtics’ recent 145-113 blowout of the Houston Rockets on Saturday. A frequent combatant with NBA officials over what he sees as blown calls came to a head, with the St. Louis native revealing postgame he pushed the issue to make a point.
“I didn’t appreciate or like the no-call on those last two drives,” said Tatum of the casus belli he presented as being behind his ejection Saturday to NBC Sports Boston via Heavy’s Matt John.
“I mean, I’m a very self-aware person, and I understand the time and score,” added the Duke alum.
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“The game was pretty much over, and I had to stand up for myself,” he explained. “I said my piece, got ejected, and that was it.”
Generally speaking, that tactic does not have any obvious examples of being effective, and has even worked against players who develop a reputation for being a problem for officials. If it does what he hopes, we’re all for it — but we have doubts this approach will get Tatum the respect he deserves from the whistle.
Better to make a point of complaining on the podium, take the fine, and use the public nature of the platform to make one’s point with a cooler head. At least with this approach, there seems to have been some changes to how games are called in the past.
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