Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr should’ve felt as if Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics had forgotten about this previous summer time’s Paris Olympics.
Properly, that appeared removed from the case following the top of Boston’s mammoth 125-85 win over Golden State on Martin Luther King Day. As soon as the ultimate buzzer sounded at Chase Middle and each groups greeted each other on their manner off the court docket, Kerr was excluded — and it was awkward.
Tatum and Warriors star Stephen Curry shared a quick 1-on-1 dialogue whereas Jaylen Brown stood within the background and TNT’s postgame broadcast captured Kerr hovering his manner into the body. The 59-year-old slowly tried to get in on the pleasant chit-chat, solely to obtain the chilly shoulder therapy like a faculty little one getting excluded from the lunch desk by all of the cool youngsters.
Brown made direct eye contact with Kerr and instantly regarded away, giving the previous USA Basketball head coach the signal of rejection to stroll away. Kerr, rapidly catching onto the tell-tale signal, backed off and walked away from the group.
Kerr, the clipboard chief of Staff USA’s gold medal run, sparked controversy when he benched Tatum twice within the crew’s six complete Olympic matchups. USA Basketball additionally rejected Tatum’s operating mate, Brown, after Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard withdrew from competing on account of a knee damage, and as an alternative gave the vacant spot to Celtics guard Derrick White. Brown, months prior, expressed his need to characterize Staff USA and didn’t get the decision, even after being named MVP of the 2024 NBA Finals.
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The summer time of disrespect for the Tatum-Brown tandem, recent off a championship, supplied an outlet for motivation for the duo and Kerr felt the brunt of their gas Monday night. Tatum and Brown mixed to attain 39 factors and dropped Golden State to .500 at 21-21, good for eleventh within the Western Convention.
In the meantime, the C’s improved to 30-13 and have become the third crew within the NBA to succeed in the 30-win plateau this season, becoming a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.
The win additionally supplied Boston with a much-needed sigh of reduction because the crew shot 41.7% from 3-point vary — and held the Warriors to 26.4% taking pictures from three — and ran Golden State off its personal flooring. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla yanked Tatum, Brown and Kristaps Porzingis off the ground on the finish of the third quarter and unloaded the bench because the Warriors had no life even with 12 minutes left in regulation.
Boston entered the battle losers in 4 of its final 10 video games, a stretch through which the crew ranked a modest 18th in 3-point taking pictures (35.5%).
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“You gotta like it, simply because it’s onerous to win on this league. You may’t take it with no consideration,” Brown informed reporters, per CLNS Media. “I feel we’ve needed to combat and it hasn’t been as straightforward as we might’ve favored and I feel that’s good for us. It’s not imagined to be and it simply reveals you the way onerous it’s to win night time to nighttime. You may’t take successful with no consideration. You may’t skip steps and particulars, and us dropping has been reminders of that.”
The four-game highway journey continues for the Celtics who will subsequent face the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night time at 10:30 p.m. ET.
