Getty Norman Powell of the LA Clippers and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
The Boston Celtics won their fourth game in a row on Thursday night, taking down the LA Clippers by a score of 116-110. With the victory, Boston grew their lead atop the Eastern Conference (and NBA), extending their record to 26-10 on the season.
Joe Mazzulla was unable to coach the Celtics once again as he continued to deal with a corneal abrasion, meaning Damon Stoudamire was once again in the head coach’s seat. After the game, and after another set of impressive performances from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Stoudamire called Brown a “bully,” and Brown was confused at the comment.
“I don’t know what the hell Damon talking about… Now he the head coach he want to switch up on us,” Brown said when asked about the notion.
Stoudamire was discussing Brown’s and Tatum’s different playstyles. Tatum often uses his finesse to finish around the rim, while Brown often prefers to use his strength and bully his way through opponents.
“He’s a bully to me. Like when I say a bully, I say it from the standpoint of a good way,” Stoudamire said of Brown. “I feel like he’s the type of guy every team needs. The way he plays, I think it balances JT. I think that he’s the total opposite of JT, and I think that’s why it works with them.”
Tatum and Brown put up 29 points apiece in Boston’s win over the Clippers. Brown ended the night with seven points and two assists to go along with his points, while Tatum put up 11 rebounds and one assist.
Jayson Tatum Clowns Coach Joe Mazzulla
Including the Clippers game, Stoudamire has now been the head coach for two games in a row. He earned a win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night as well. And while Stoudamire noted that the coaches all act as a team to set gameplans, he still employs a different strategy than Mazzulla.
After the Rockets game, Tatum was asked about the difference between Stoudamire and Mazzulla. He took the opportunity to take a subtle shot at Mazzulla.
“The only difference was, Joe wasn’t over there chewing the s*** out some gum,” Tatum said jokingly. “But, we’re professionals, and we know what essentially we’re supposed to do. The coaches definitely help us out with managing the game, but I think we’ve been doing this a while that we should be able to execute from shoot around this morning, the game plan, just playing the right way.”
Jayson Tatum Calls Out Media for Trade Talks
In addition to discussing the Celtics coaches (and making fun of them), Tatum also took a shot at the media. After Boston’s win over Houston, he made a backhanded comment about how the media was talking about trading either him or Brown last year, and now they’re comparing them to all-time greats.
“It’s crazy, you know, this time last year, y’all wanted to trade either one of us, and now, you just said Mike [Jordan] and Scottie [Pippen],” Tatum said. “So, we’re not as bad as you guys say we are, but we’re not as good as Michael and Scottie yet. We’re just two young guys that love to compete, love to try to help our team win every night… but you know, we gotta win. We gotta win when it counts most.”
