Jayson Tatum had an old take exposed after Monday’s loss to Charlotte.
Tatum’s Boston Celtics stunningly lost in overtime to the Hornets by a 121-118 final score. The Celtics led by as many as 18 points in the first half and even took a nine-point lead into the last two minutes of regulation, yet still failed to get the job done.
After the thrilling game, Hornets forward PJ Washington took a subtle shot at Tatum. As he was jogging to the locker room, Washington told a nearby camera, “Not bad for a Monday night on League Pass.” Check it out.
“Not bad for a Monday night on League Pass.” — @PJWashington 🍿 pic.twitter.com/Pj70wNkMLA
— Hornets On FanDuel Sports Network (@FDSN_Hornets) November 21, 2023
That is a reference to a viral video of Tatum from this past summer. Speaking to high school players in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League last July, Tatum was making a point about not taking any games lightly. He used the Hornets as a supposed example of a team that nobody cared about and dropped the line, “Just because we’re playing Charlotte on NBA League Pass on a Monday and ain’t nobody f–king watching, I’m chilling tonight.”
"Just because we're playing Charlotte on NBA League Pass on a Monday and ain't nobody watching, I'm chilling tonight— That's not what the best players do… Compete, play basketball, don't take it for f*cking granted."
—Jayson Tatum
(via @NikeEYB)pic.twitter.com/bGo1LYpCjP
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 25, 2023
Poetic justice came for Tatum less than four months later though (and as fate would have it, on a Monday night). It was the first time that the Celtics and the Hornets had played each other since Tatum’s comments, and it is safe to say that Charlotte made him remember it.
The four-time All-Star Tatum was actually brilliant individually on Monday, finishing with a season-high 45 points plus 13 rebounds and six assists. But Tatum did have a couple late miscues, falling asleep on a Gordon Hayward back cut that led to a game-tying dunk with 45 seconds left in overtime and then missing the third of three free throws with 5.0 seconds left that would have tied things at 119. With Tatum usually being the one doing the trolling, he sure got a taste of his own medicine on Monday night.
