Kyrie Irving recalls Jayson Tatum’s first game where he passed up an opportunity to dunk on LeBron James and later regretted it.
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Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have taken the NBA by storm lately. Just over a month and a half ago, they were fighting for a play-in tournament spot. With a 20-3 record in February and March, they’ve climbed up to the #1 spot in the Eastern Conference.
That’s quite a leap considering their odds earlier this season. Fans will hopefully get to see another Round 1 matchup of Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics but with the roles reversed this season. The top 4 teams in the east have identical records. It is tough to predict which team will end up clinching the #1 spot with just two weeks of regular-season action remaining.
The NBA got real for Jayson Tatum after LeBron James blocked him
Jayson Tatum might be dropping 30+ on every superstar now, but his first game in the league was a reality check. The Celtics superstar and Kyrie Irving appeared on the Knuckleheads podcast when they were teammates. The host had an interesting question for Jayson Tatum after a successful rookie season.
He asked the 21-year old about the time the NBA got real for him. Turns out it happened in the very first game of Tatum’s career. In addition, it came at the hands of arguably the best player in the league LeBron James.
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Jayson Tatum described the situation as if it was still very fresh in his mind. Clearly, GSW fans are not the only ones staying up at night because of LBJ’s blocks. With just 2 minutes into the game, Kyrie Irving made an attempt to give JT a highlight moment on his debut. However, the 4x MVP had other plans.
Before Tatum could gather himself and go for a layup LeBron was there to knock it out. The night was more about Kyrie facing his former team so fans let it slide. Funnily enough, Jayson tried to blame it on Kyrie after the game.
Tatum made it to the conference finals in his rookie season earning 35+ minutes on the court each night in the playoffs. He led them past Milwaukee and ROTY Ben Simmons’ 76ers to face LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Although the Celtics lost, Jayson made a name for himself in the league.
