“Don't come back to a Game 7 and put Jayson Tatum in that kind of situation.” This was Stephen A. Smith's exact words as he warned the Miami Heat of feeling the full wrath of Game 7 Jayson Tatum. Well, after watching the Boston Celtics get blown out on their own home floor on Monday night, even the great Stephen A. had to completely backtrack on his earlier prediction.
Smith has never been short of hot takes, and naturally, he's been wrong in the past. In spite of his no-nonsense personality, Stephen A. is also the type who owns up to his mistakes. This is exactly what he did in the aftermath of Game 7:
It turns out Jayson Tatum was…exactly who the Heat wanted to see pic.twitter.com/umO6VbqM2f
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) May 30, 2023
As Smith said, Tatum turned out to be “exactly who the Heat wanted to see” on Monday night. Celtics fans were hoping for another vintage performance from their superstar in this do-or-die contest, but the four-time All-Star completely let them down by what turned out to be a stinker of a performance.
In what was without a doubt Boston's most important game of the season, Tatum messed up big time, finishing with just 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting, to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists, a steal, and two turnovers in 42 minutes of action.
To be fair, you have to give this man credit for playing through an early injury scare. Tatum tweaked his ankle in the first play of the game, and the Celtics superstar was clearly in pain the rest of the way. Unfortunately for him, these are the types of situations wherein no excuses are valid.
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