Getty Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
After a nine-game win streak, the Boston Celtics began to falter. They lost three games in a row before getting back on track with an overtime win over the Los Angeles Lakers on January 28. However, the win didn’t come without its fair share of controversy.
LeBron James was driving to the hoop at the end of regulation with a chance to win the game for the Lakers. Jayson Tatum fouled him on the drive, but nothing was called. The game went to overtime, and the Celtics pulled off the victory. After the game, James took to Instagram to take a subtle jab at Tatum.
James posted a video of the clip to his Instagram Story, which was screenshotted by Cam Tabatabaie of the Celtics Lab podcast, tagged Tatum, and wrote, “good block.” He also added plenty of emojis to ensure that his sarcasm was adequately portrayed.
Tatum replied to the message with an Instagram Story post of his own. He re-posted James’ Story with the message, “last night was a blur… good game champ.” He also made sure to include some emojis, as it’s clear Tatum realizes he fouled James on the play.
Both players ended the night with solid statlines, despite the result. James ended the night with 41 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists on 15-of-30 shooting from the field and 6-of-12 shooting from behind the three-point line.
As for Tatum, he also played well, but he wasn’t as efficient as James. The Celtics superstar put up 30 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists on 8-of-25 shooting from the field and 3-of-10 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
LeBron James’ Furious Rant After Missed Call
Needless to say, the Lakers superstar was very angry after the game. Immediately after the referees missed the call, James broke down on the court, but post-game when speaking to reporters, he was just as upset.
James went on a tirade after the game, noting that he believes the Lakers have been on the wrong end of the whistle in recent games.
“It’s been building. I mean you guys [have] seen some of the games that we’ve lost this year with late-game missed calls,” James said via CLNS Media. “We had an opportunity to literally win the game. I mean, that’s… This is the second one in the last few weeks for myself. Against Dallas, [we] had an opportunity to win the game if the foul was called. K-Nunn the other day had an opportunity to tie the game if the four-point play is called. I don’t understand. I don’t understand what we’re doing and I watch basketball every single day. I watch these games every single day and I don’t see it happening to nobody else. It’s just weird.”
Jayson Tatum’s Post-Game Response After Missed Call
In addition, Tatum also spoke to the media after the game about the play. He dodged the question a bit, saying that the final few minutes of the game were a blur.
“The last two minutes and overtime was a blur,” Tatum said via CLNS Media. “I don’t really know what happened. I gotta watch the game, watch the film. Because everything was just happening so fast. But we moved on and got the win. That’s all I got to say about that.”
