The Boston Celtics' Friday night battle against the Philadelphia 76ers had all the makings of being a trap game. The Sixers were without both Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, so naturally, the likes of Patrick Beverley and Robert Covington stepped up on the offensive end. And to make matters worse for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum was ejected from the game for drawing his second technical foul after he argued with the officials who deemed that his inadvertent elbow on Covington should be reviewed as a “hostile act”.

Tatum's ejection could have drastically altered the game for the Celtics; after all, it's always difficult to win a game, and a nationally-televised one at that, without the team's best player. And although the Celtics pulled out a 125-119 victory over the Sixers in the end, fans of the team are incensed, and justifiably so, that the officials seem to have quite the trigger-happy whistle.

“You can't throw Jayson Tatum out of a nationally televised game Come on now I'm finna go to the crib,” retired NBA forward Evan Turner expressed his frustration. Plenty of fans echoed Turner's thoughts on the Celtics star's ejection.

“Jayson Tatum getting ejected is embarrassing Fans don’t show up to watch the officials,” one fan wrote. Another one said, “These refs are crazy. They ejected Jayson Tatum from the game for what? #Celtics.”

This could have been a major disaster for the Celtics. While the team could afford a few losses here and there since they have the best record in the NBA, losing to the Sixers without their two best players isn't exactly a good look.

Related NewsArticle continues below
Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s one Jaylen Brown regret, per insider
Jayson Tatum reveals heartbreaking ‘toughest’ part of winning title
Celtics icon Paul Pierce calls out Jaylen Brown for Michael Jordan all-time list snub
Stephen Curry wants to see this ‘wild behavior’ from Jayson Tatum on Team USA

At least one Celtics fan on social media wants Jayson Tatum to take accountability. After all, as the team's star player, the fan believes that Tatum should have known that he already had one technical foul so he should not have put himself in a position where the officials can make the decision to throw him out of the game.

“He had 1 already! Walk away!!! He just hurt the team,” the fan wrote.

Should the referees be more lenient or should players be more tactful? As always, the answer lies somewhere in between, although Celtics fans are well within their rights to feel aggrieved by Jayson Tatum's ejection.