The Boston Celtics opened their 2024 NBA playoffs by absolutely pummeling a shorthanded Miami Heat team, who beat them in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. But in the late stages of a sure victory, the Celtics almost faced disaster during a key sequence between their franchise player Jayson Tatum and Miami’s Caleb Martin.
With Tatum trying to secure a harmless defensive rebound, Martin accidentally ran into Tatum in mid-air. That led to the Celtics’ star taking what looked like a serious fall on his back and neck.
Fortunately, Tatum got up immediately and appeared to be OK as Boston breathed a huge sigh of relief:
Glad we saw Jayson Tatum get right up after this one… pic.twitter.com/FmAR3y3V0R
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 21, 2024
In the postgame, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had a rather unexpected tenor about the play. Rather than simply saying he was just thankful Tatum was alright before moving on, a seemingly dead-serious Mazzulla almost sounded thrilled that Tatum had an opportunity to … show his toughness after potentially getting seriously injured?
I don’t know, man. That’s the most charitable interpretation I could come up with. This whole below sequence is just so weird to hear from a professional head coach:
Joe Mazzulla on what he was thinking during the play Caleb Martin fouled Jayson Tatum:
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) April 21, 2024
“I was waiting to see what he [Tatum] was going to do. I was kind of excited about the whole situation. I enjoyed watching it.” https://t.co/Bwr5224DsZ pic.twitter.com/USrtLcaIp9
Truly, what an irresponsible thing to say.
The Celtics almost saw their season go up in flames with a vulnerable Tatum in mid-air, and Mazzulla stated he barely expressed any concern in the heat of the moment because he wanted to see Tatum’s response. C’mon now. We should be way past this kind of fake tough-guy attitude in professional sports.