Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has come out guns blazing to begin the 2022-23 campaign, posting insane averages of 31.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 14 games, cementing himself as one of the early frontrunners for the Most Valuable Player award.
Tatum hasn't gotten to this point without him holding himself to extremely high standards, but unfortunately for him, he was penalized for expressing his frustration on Monday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the span of seven seconds, Jayson Tatum smoked a layup attempt, and then he proceeded to foul Aleksej Pokusevski on the other end, an uncharacteristically poor sequence from one of the best players in the league. The 24-year old, clearly frustrated with himself, let out a huge clap as if to awaken himself from a poor 1-8 shooting start to begin the contest.
However, official John Goble took umbrage to Tatum's gesture and proceeded to call him for his fourth technical of the season. After the game, Tatum expressed his annoyance with Goble's questionable call, seeing as he didn't direct the loud clap towards the official.
“I think I just missed a layup and I just committed a foul. Anybody in the arena, anybody watching the game could have seen I was frustrated with myself,” Tatum said, per Brian Robb of Mass Live. “I didn’t say anything, I didn’t look at them. After the game, just laugh it off.”
Kevin Durant and Ja Morant also expressed their confusion over John Goble's decision, clearly in disbelief over how Jayson Tatum's clap warranted such punishment.
Nonetheless, perhaps the controversial call helped jolt Tatum wide awake, as he went 8-15 from the field the rest of the way to lead the Celtics in scoring with 27 points in their 126-122 comeback victory against the Thunder. The Celtics moved to 11-3 after their latest victory, and if Boston continues to set the league on fire, Tatum could, perhaps, be in line to be the franchise's first MVP since Larry Bird won the award in 1986.
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