Bam Adebayo caught Jayson Tatum in “The Block of the Playoffs” back in 2020, and he still roasts his fellow draftee for that.
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Bam Adebayo and Jayson Tatum are the cornerstones of their franchises. Both the stars came into the league in 2017 and have similar career trajectories. They have entirely different styles of play with Bam being sound both offensively and defensively while JT has become an elite scorer for his team.
While the world took notice of Adebayo’s game since Jimmy Butler came into the young and solid Miami Heat team before the 2019-20 season, Tatum started putting himself on notice a couple of years before that.
Tatum had more than decent performances in Playoffs both in his first and the second season in the league. Adebayo meanwhile made his first big impact in the 2020 playoffs. And both of them made their first All-Star appearance that very year.
The world was going into shambles at the time due to COVID-19 and NBA had decided to play their remaining games in the Bubble in Disney World, Orlando.
Boston Celtics had reached the Eastern Conference Finals following a seven-game series against the reigning champions Raptors just to face a resilient Heat team who had defeated the favorites to win it all, the Milwaukee Bucks. That’s when it happened, the block of the 2020 Playoffs.
Bam Adebayo still teases Jayson Tatum referencing the block
The first game of that Conference Final had all the Playoffs action anyone could ask for. While the game went overtime, there was a moment when Heat led the game 116-114 and the Celtics had the possession and Tatum drove towards the rim. The moment that might be THEE highlight of the 2020 Playoffs.
Bam admittedly numbed his fingers following the insane block, which he performed with his left hand to make it even more absurd. But the man never shies away to bring it up on Tatum’s face whenever he gets an opportunity. He talked about it when he recently came to JJ Redick’s The Old Man and The Three podcast.
It was the first rejection of a potential game-tying or go-ahead dunk in the final minute of a postseason game since the NBA began tracking play-by-plays during the 1996-97 season. And so, it even irked the likes of Magic Johnson to call it the best block in Playoffs history.
Bam, as fun as he is and how good his friendship with the Celtics forward is, he would never stop bragging about this block until Tatum gets his revenge in some way if the Heat plays the Celtics in the playoffs.
As things stand, if both teams win the first two rounds, they will meet in the conference finals again to rehash the Bubble series. And maybe that’s the reason Bam is still bringing it up, or it may be just for making his Defensive Player of the Year case better.
