Avoid upsetting Jayson Tatum.
However, it probably won’t matter even then.
Tatum, who fiercely objected to a technical charge, scored 17 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter to blow out the Knicks and lead the Celtics 114-98 on Monday.
Tatum was angry after he was called for his fourth personal foul, while the Celtics were ahead by twelve points. Before the official on the other side assessed him a technical foul, he clapped his hands and gestured in the direction of the one who had called the foul.
“I shouldn’t have got the tech,” Tatum said. “I mean, it’s tough. It’s an emotional game, right? The fans can see it, everybody watching can see it, it’s hard to play the game without emotions. I understand there’s a fine line and balance, but fourth quarter, we playing defense and I screamed nothing crazy. I’m not even directing it towards anybody.
“For the ref on the other side to come and give me a tech, I don’t agree with that because it wasn’t right. Can’t go back and change it now.”
“I was mad. I thought I didn’t deserve that tech at all. I’ve gotten a lot of techs in my career I know that I deserve. That wasn’t one of them.”
Tatum was already in the process of his dominant fourth, but he gave a wry smile when asked if Monday served as an example of him playing better when angry.
“Maybe so,” Tatum said.
Tatum made four 3-pointers in the final period after starting the game 0-for-6 from deep. He had scored in other ways before the fourth, including on drives and post-ups. But he kept shooting from deep. With the Celtics up only three early in the fourth, Tatum drilled a 3-pointer while being fouled by Josh Hart, and that four-point play got him going.
“The three wasn’t falling and the toughest out of the night for me went in and I guess that kind of opened things up,” Tatum said. “So I’ll take it.”
Tatum proceeded to take over. Two possessions later, he found Jrue Holiday for a 3-pointer that put the Celtics up 10. He found a lane to the hoop on a pick-and-roll action with Kristaps Porzingis to put the C’s up 102-90 with 5:07 to go right before getting the technical foul. If that made him angry, he channeled it the right way. Fifteen seconds later, he hit a step-back triple over Mitchell Robinson. A minute later, a step-back 3 over Julius Randle from the corner put the C’s up 16 and effectively clinched the victory.
After a slow start, Tatum trusted his ability, like he has in the past. And maybe that tech helped, too.
“You put the work in and I’ve played enough games, had enough tough shooting nights,” Tatum said. “I mean, Game 6 actually is a prime example in Philly when I couldn’t hit a shot. You know, all really, really good scorers know it just takes one, takes one to change your momentum, change how you feel about yourself shooting the ball and once you see one go in, you feel a lot better about yourself.”
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