With the Warriors on their way to a 104-94 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Chase Center on Monday, Jayson Tatum showed his frustration.
The Warriors had blitzed the Boston Celtics in the fourth quarter to turn a tight game into a going-away win to put themselves on the brink of a championship. Down 91-79 with under five minutes to go, Celtics coach Ime Udoka called a timeout.Â
Tatum, who was dribbling the ball up the court at the time, declined to give the ball up despite the play being stopped. Gary Payton II and Draymond Green went over to try and take the ball away from Tatum, but the Celtics star was persistent.
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SIGN UP HERE The incident led to a minor fracas, as Green followed Tatum, backpedaling all the way along the baseline and into the Boston bench area as players from both teams converged.
It didn’t get more physical than that, though, as Green soon walked back to the Warriors bench for the timeout.
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Tatum led the Celtics with 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in 44 minutes. But despite rallying his team from a 16-point deficit, it wasn’t enough. He probably knew it when that timeout was called, and the last thing he wanted to do was give the ball to Green.
A Game 5 win, a frustrated Boston star and one win away from a title: Monday was quite the perfect recipe for the Warriors.