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Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have been playing some uninspiring basketball as of late. Thus, itās not too difficult to understand why, on Wednesday night, the Celtics had no time for such petty antics from Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, who saw it fit to swing his feet recklessly towards the vicinity of Derrick White after hammering down an uncontested jam.
Nevertheless, Tatum had his teammateās back. After nailing the technical free throw from Gobertās wild attempt at a kick, the Celtics star made sure to repay Gobertās purported disrespect with some of his own. Tatum proceeded to throw down a nasty poster slam right down Gobertās throat before crashing towards the floor for a mean and-one finish that ended up drawing a flagrant 1 foul call on the Timberwolves center.
Rudy Gobert was given a flagrant foul penalty 1 for the foul he committed on Tatum š³
Good call or bad call? š¤pic.twitter.com/2la3ucc1Qd
ā ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 16, 2023
After the game, Jayson Tatum sounded off on his retaliatory act towards what he perceived to be a disrespectful play towards his Celtics teammate.
āI definitely didnāt appreciate him doing that to D-White. They called a tech, whatever. But you know, attacking the rim especially when heās down there, you canāt lay it up. Heās gonna block that sāt. Got to put pressure on the refs to call the foul and attack the rim,ā Tatum said, per NBC Sports Boston.
"I didn't appreciate him doing that"
Jayson Tatum says Rudy Gobert's tech on Derrick White was on his mind when he dunked on him the play after pic.twitter.com/xT1TVRVT8O
ā Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 16, 2023
The Celtics star may have paid a price by going up fearlessly against Rudy Gobert, but he appears to be alright following a hard crash.
āI came down, fell right on my hip. Pretty sore. Nothing crazy. Keep icing it, things like that,ā Tatum added.
Itās quite unclear if the Timberwolves centerās flailing feet was a sign of intentional disrespect towards Derrick White. Perhaps Gobert just wanted to show him up after the Celtics guard took a wild swipe towards Gobertās arms a few seconds prior. Nevertheless, Gobert lost all plausible deniability when he flexed his arms following the play.
What a dirty play from Rudy Gobert, Derrick White couldāve got seriously injured here pic.twitter.com/cni1fk2LqE
ā š³šøš·šŖš± (@Huncho_Jman) March 16, 2023
At the end of the day, it was the Celtics that had the last laugh. They ended up taking home a 104-102 victory, thanks in large part to Jaylen Brownās 35 points. Perhaps this should help them regain the swagger theyāve been missing over the past weeks.