Celtics
“I don’t think this was humbling. This was more like a slap in the face.”
Jayson Tatum’s surprising benching in Team USA’s Olympics-opening win over Serbia last week continues to be a sore subject for several current and former NBA players.
Former Celtics star (and noted Tatum fan) Paul Pierce joined the growing chorus of vocal critics of USA coach Steve Kerr’s decision over the last few days.
Even though Kerr stressed after Team USA’s win over Serbia that the decision to sit both Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton for the entire game revolved around matchups and the desire to carve out minutes for Kevin Durant after missing all of the U.S.’s exhibition games, Pierce believes that the decision stood as a shot across the bow at the reigning champion Celtics.
“I don’t think this was humbling. This was more like a slap in the face,” Pierce said during an appearance on FS1′s “Undisputed” on Friday. “Think about this: After the game, Kerr was like, what was the word he used? He felt bad. Felt like an idiot, and then you try and sit (Joel) Embiid in the next game to kind of justify it. Like, ‘Look, I sat the MVP.’ Nah, that ain’t what this was.
“Just Celtic hate. Good old Celtic hate,” Pierce added. “That’s all it’s ever been.”
Pierce has been far from the only basketball authority to take umbrage with the benching of Tatum, who played a key role in Team USA’s 2020 gold-medal win at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and is considered one of the top players in the league.
Former Celtics big man and current ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins — who has been a vocal critic of Tatum for years — labeled it as “disrespect”, while even Kerr’s own player in Golden State in Draymond Green was also confused by his coach’s rationale for stapling the Celtics star to the bench.
“You don’t not play Jayson Tatum,” Green said on the latest episode of his podcast, ‘The Draymond Green Show.’ “That man just won an NBA championship, he’s on the cover of NBA 2K, on the cover of Sports Illustrated, saying ‘Cheers,’ and just signed the biggest contract in NBA history. Oh, and by the way, your reward is to sit down and don’t play in the first Olympic game.”
Since Tatum’s benching, Kerr has started him in back-to-back wins for Team USA over South Sudan and Puerto Rico. Tatum dropped a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) in Team USA’s victory over Puerto Rico Saturday, helping his team finish 3-0 in group play.
While it seems like Tatum’s benching might be a one-time blip as Team USA looks to take home another gold medal, Pierce stressed that the optics of Kerr’s decision will still put Tatum in a bad light.
“This guy is coming off a championship. He’s been first-team All-NBA for three straight years,” Pierce said. “You know what that means? I’m one of the five best players on the planet. On the planet for the last three years. People think I’m one of the five best players on the planet, and I can’t get in a game?
“… Let me tell you something: Jayson Tatum matches up with everybody,” Pierce continued. “… He’s athletically gifted enough to guard all those positions. Humbling as he may put it, yeah, he can say those words, but I’m gonna say this was an insult. Pure insult to a player of his caliber.”
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