Jayson Tatum Drops Expletive Response About Olympic Revenge Mindset
BOSTON — Payback certainly was on the minds of Boston Celtics fans when they greeted Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr with a loud chorus of boos Wednesday.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who was the aggrieved party in this situation after Kerr benched him twice in the Olympics, didn’t feel the same way.
“It wasn’t on my mind,” Tatum said about the Olympic drama between him and Kerr following Boston’s 118-112 loss to the Warriors at TD Garden. “Just another Wednesday. Another game, another opportunity to come in and try to be the best player I can be and another day to just try to get a win.”
Tatum wasn’t going to apologize for feeling that way, either. Fans wanting him to give a death stare to Kerr after hitting one of his five 3-pointers in the game or show up the respected coach in any other way after dropping in a game-high 32 points on 10-for-20 shooting were left waiting for things that never came.
Tatum put his “challenging” Olympic experience in the past even if Celtics fans have yet to do so.
“That’s part of this job. That’s what I’ve been dealing with my entire career. People want me to be louder, people want me to be meaner, whatever,” Tatum said. “One thing about Jayson is like I’m always going to do what the (expletive) I want to do and approach things how I want to approach them, what I feel is sincere to who I am as a person.”
Not giving in to what other people wanted is a skill Tatum acquired in his NBA career like his step-back 3-pointer. There were many people in Tatum’s ear in the aftermath of the Olympics debacle, trying to advise him how to handle the situation.
But Tatum, like he will always do, took his own route.
“I mean, excuse my language, you just learn to not give a (expletive),” Tatum said. “I’m comfortable in my own skin. I’m conformable with the things I’ve accomplished. I know who I am. I’m comfortable with making my own decisions the way I want to make them and doing things the way I want to. Maybe when you’re younger you’re very consumed or concerned with pleasing people you don’t know or things like that. If I do things the way I want to do it and I can live with the result of every situation. That’s where I’m at in my life.”