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Playoff basketball is always a more physical game than the regular season, yet on April 23, as the Boston Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks, Jayson Tatum received a tough foul from the hands of Trae Young.
After reviewing the possession, the referees issued Young with a flagrant one foul, as they deemed he wasn’t making a play for the ball. When addressing the media following the contest, Tatum revealed that he wasn’t upset by the additional contact but did try to scare Young as he rushed back to his feet.
“The flagrant foul, I wasn’t mad either,” Tatum said. “I know it looked like I was. I got up real quick. I just wanted to scare him a little bit. But, you know, I know Trae, no harm, playoff foul. I just wanted to get up quick and move on. That’s all it was.”
Tatum continued his fine start to the postseason, walking away from Boston’s latest victory with a statline of 31 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists on 40% shooting from the field and 30.8% shooting from three-point range.
Jaylen Brown Praises Marcus Smarts’ Performance
Despite the Hawks boasting a talented perimeter defender in Dejounte Murray, Marcus Smart has found ways to attack Atlanta’s defense in a plethora of ways. On April 23, the Celtics appeared to feature Smart as a dribble-drive penetrator due to his aggression on the ball, which is something that Jaylen Brown appreciated.
“Smart has been aggressive all series,” Brown said. “Being able to, you know, take advantage of those mismatches. Shooting the ball well. And I liked it when Smart is aggressive. I like it when he’s not thinking too much, and he’s just playing the game. And that’s what we need. And we’re gonna need that going forward down the line. So Smart gotta keep it up.”
In his four playoff games of the season so far, Smart is averaging 17 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game while converting 60% of his two-point shot attempts and 40% of his looks from deep.
Marcus Smart Jokes About Jaylen Brown’s Mask
Over the past few months, Celtics fans have grown used to seeing Jaylen Brown wearing a protective face mask as he continues to recover from a facial fracture that occurred when he collided with Jayson Tatum during a contest against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 8.
However, as the Celtics searched for an offensive boost against Atlanta, Brown discarded the mask in an attempt to give himself a slight edge for the remainder of the game. When speaking to the media on April 23, Smart joked that the Celtics rotation struggled to spot Brown on the court, as they couldn’t recognize him without the protective face cover.
“I was actually on the bench,” Smart said. “And then after the timeout, we were looking for Jaylen, couldn’t find him, because he didn’t have his mask on and then we see him in a corner, and he gets the ball. And then obviously, you know, he makes those plays where he’s driving with force. And that was it; off the glass couple of times and make some great plays. And, and we just knew at that moment, you know, it was a different JB, and, you know, he’s going to carry us and bring us home.”