In his seven seasons as a player for the Boston Celtics, small forward Jayson Tatum has only been sent off once.
The incident occurred in February of the previous season. And Tatum, who had just been ejected for the first time in his professional life, appeared to take it in stride and even claimed that it was good for his reputation because all great players are ejected occasionally.
This time, though, as Tatum received his second career ejection, he reacted differently and asserted that the officials appeared ready to kick him out of the game.
Celtics vs 76ers
The Boston Celtics squared off for the second time against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night at TD Garden.
76ers’ power duo, former MVP Joel Embiid and rising star Tyrese Maxey, was absent from the game, but even then, the 76ers put up a good fight against the Celtics, scoring as much as 72 points by the end of the second quarter, in contrast to the Celtics’ 69 points.
In the third quarter, however, the Celtics began to pick up their pace and managed to outscore the 76ers 95-94.
Jayson Tatum was ejected after receiving his second technical foul. pic.twitter.com/fp6PyrCL46
— ESPN (@espn) December 2, 2023
Tatum was sprinting across the court with the ball in his hands in the final seconds of the quarter when the Sixers stopped him just outside the line. 76ers’ Robert Covington managed to knock the ball out of Tatum’s hands, and in an effort to retrieve the ball, Tatum inadvertently elbowed Covington in the face.
A whistle was blown, and Tatum received an offensive foul. Upon review, the foul was upgraded to a flagrant one.
Tatum had tried to explain his side to the officials all throughout the commotion but was given a technical foul for this behavior. And seeing as that was his second tech foul of the evening, his first one occurring in the first quarter, Tatum got ejected.
In a post-match conference, Tatum said that he was extremely surprised by the foul since he didn’t use profanity while trying to explain his side. He stated that it even appeared as though the officials were ready to throw him out. Tatum continued by saying that he’s seen behaviors that are a lot worse than his and have been tolerated.
“I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t want me to play tonight? They were eager to get me out of there. It was like a joke. I had to laugh it off,” Tatum added.
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