Jayson Tatum just dropped a 50-piece for the Boston Celtics on Friday in a 145-136 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. While the rest of the basketball world was heaping praise on the 23-year-old, the one and only Kendrick Perkins decided to grab the credit for Tatum's 53-point explosion.
Perkins was quick to make known the fact that he called Tatum prior to Friday's eruption:
Called Jayson Tatum out about giving more and he didn’t get all sensitive and he heard me and responded like a true professional supposed to and had the best game of his young career…finishing with 53 spicy and 10 boards with W! Carry the hell on…
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) April 10, 2021
Perkins firmly believes that it was his phone call that lit a fire under Tatum. Well, we're not exactly sure about that.
For what it's worth, the mean streets of Twitter did not exactly respond too well to Perk's claim:
I love you Perk but this shit had nothing to do with you. The kid is as talented as they come and his best years are ahead of him. #futuremvp
— Mike G☘️ (@mgend72) April 10, 2021
Yo Perk! Can you call me out next, please? I have a men’s league pickup game tonight and I want to drop 50+
— moose johnston 💧 (@DarrylJohnston) April 10, 2021
I promise you Perk he didn’t give a fuck about anything you said. Carry on..
— FIRE TODD 18 WEEKS AGO (@DuckzSzn) April 10, 2021
Absolute savagery from the wicked world of Twitter against the former Celtics big man.
To be fair to Perkins, Tatum did look like he was playing with a chip on his shoulder on Friday. It looked like he wanted to prove a point. We're not sure if he had Perkins on his mind the entire night, though.
Tatum finished the game with 53 points on 16-of-25 from the field and 15-of-16 from the free-throw line. He also logged 10 boards, four assists, a block, and six three-pointers in what was a historic evening for him.
Boston has now won four out of their last five games and are clearly looking to establish their place in the playoffs picture out East. It's getting really tight in the conference right now, so more of the same will be expected of Tatum if he hopes to lead his team to another postseason berth this term.