What Jayson Tatum said about playing against Kerr after the Olympic bench press

Celtics

Jayson Tatum downplayed the importance of the sport with the Warriors after the Celtics lost 118-112 at TD Garden on Wednesday night.

The Warriors also defeated the Celtics within the 2022 NBA Finals. Their coach Steve Kerr benched Tatum twice in the course of the Olympics.

Kerr said before the sport that he didn't enjoy benching Tatum, but noted that the team had 12 potential Hall of Famers eager to win and ultimately achieved its goal of winning a gold medal had.

Tatum said he didn't spend much time before the sport interested by what happened in Paris this summer.

“That wasn’t in my head,” Tatum said. “Just another Wednesday. Another game, another opportunity to come in and try to be the best player I can be and try to get a win.”

Back in September, Tatum described the situation as difficult and difficult and said he desired to contribute more. However, anyone expecting a dramatic response from him shouldn't expect one, he said.

“It’s part of this job. This is what I have dealt with my entire career. People want me to be loud or mean or whatever,” Tatum said. “One thing about Jayson is that I will always do whatever (expletive) I want to do and approach things the way I want to approach them, in a way that I feel like it suits my personality corresponds.

“Not that it comes from a bad place. Sometimes it comes from a good place,” he added. “People react differently, or you can easily say what they would do if they were in my shoes. I appreciate it when it comes from a good place, but like I said, I’m always going to respond, react and approach things the way I want to.”

Tatum said that learning to not care a lot about other people's opinions has been helpful to him over time in his NBA profession.

“Excuse my language, but it's all about learning how not to say a curse word,” Tatum said. “I feel very comfortable in my skin. I am happy with the things I have achieved. I know who I am. I feel comfortable making my own decisions and doing them the way I want.”

“When you're younger, you might be very consumed or worried about pleasing people you don't know or something like that. If I do things the way I want to do them, I can live with the outcome in any situation and that’s where I’ve come in my life.”

The Celtics have lost two of their last five games. Tatum praised the Warriors for his or her physicality.

“I think they just did a good job of being more physical and obviously they blitzed all the ball screens that I passed,” Tatum said. “We were – I speak for myself – a bit rushed in the first half and I think in the second half we just accepted it and played with more patience and made the right decision most of the time.”

The Celtics could have used a greater effort defensively, Tatum said.

“Just some of those 50-50 balls in critical moments where I didn't inch past Buddy Hield's three,” Tatum said. “The airball they got, the tip-in. I blocked Steph's shot, they got the loose ball and made the layup. It is in these moments that we know we can be better, and we have done so in the past. At the end of the game we just didn’t make enough plays in that regard.”