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After suffering defeat at the hands of the Washington Wizards on March 28, the Boston Celtics have bounced back with two big wins over the Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz.
In those two wins, Jayson Tatum has been back to his All-Star best and has been a significant factor on both sides of the floor. As such, it makes sense that Jazz head coach Will Hardy instructed his team to double-team Tatum early in the game as they looked to disrupt his rhythm.
During his post-game press conference, Tatum jokingly called Hardy an ‘a***le’ for his game plan, noting that he was expecting it to happen.
“There’s been more double teams this year,” Tatum said. “Most teams wait till I’m hitting shots or some match-up they don’t like. Will was being a****le, so he just double-teamed me to start both games. I knew it was gonna happen. I just kind of took it as a challenge, you know, play the right way, figure it out, you know, still impact the game”
At the final whistle, Tatum’s statline looked like this: 39 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals on 70.6% shooting from the field, and 62.5% from the perimeter.
Malcolm Brogdon Praises Will Hardy
Since leaving the Celtics to take over as the head coach of the Jazz, Will Hardy has been earning praises from around the league for the way his team has been performing this season, despite being in the early stages of a rebuild.
When speaking to NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin shortly after the final whistle, Malcolm Brogdon was the latest player to praise Will Hardy and the way Utah approaches their games.
“I mean, that’s a good team over there,” Brogdon said. “They’re young. They’re rebuilding. But Will Hardy – he’s doing a great job over there. They’ve surprised a lot of people so we had to take them seriously. And I thought we did. I thought we played a good game today. We had a little you know, laziness and fatigue, but I thought we played a good game overall.”
Brogdon was his usual impactful self off Boston’s bench, scoring 19 points, grabbing 3 rebounds, and kicking out 7 assists while shooting 50% from the field and 37.5% from three-point range.
Tatum Wasn’t Supposed to Play Against Utah
Heading into the game against Utah, Tatum was listed as questionable on Boston’s injury report but ultimately suited up for his team as they look to build momentum heading into the postseason.
“You know, I wasn’t really supposed to play today,” Tatum said. “But, we were just talking on the plane; it was like, we all kind of in this together, right? So, just want to kind of go through it with the guys and rock out and play in and figure it out. And it was fun. You know, it was fun figuring it out. Regardless of how to last 24 hours was, it was rewarding.”
The Celtics will now get three days off before facing the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, April 4, in what will be an important game for the Celtics’ ability to secure the second see in the Eastern Conference.
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