After the Celtics’ title-clinching Game 5 win over the Mavericks in the NBA Finals, Jayson Tatum passionately yelled, “We did it!” during his courtside interview. His celebration looked strikingly similar to Kevin Garnett yelling, “Anything is possible!” after he helped Boston end its 22-year for a title. Fans ripped the forward for copying the Hall of Famer, but the retired star doesn’t believe their celebrations were alike.
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In an interview with the NBA’s official Instagram page, Garnett made it clear that he doesn’t believe Tatum tried to rip off his iconic moment or imitate him. He claimed that he viewed it as a unique celebration and was ecstatic that the Celtics forward could toast the win by pouring his emotions out. He said,
“The ‘Anything is possible!’ was my moment and the ‘We did it!’ was his. I love the fact that he got to reach his dream, he got to reach his final goal to be able to scream something like that.”
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Garnett shutting down the controversy would help Tatum breathe a huge sigh of relief given how incessantly he was mocked on social media and was accused of trying to go viral.
Tatum was the butt of all jokes for a while
The Celtics forward wasn’t only accused of stealing Garnett’s iconic line. He was also dubbed corny for recreating strikingly similar moments from other players. He was heard saying, “What you gonna say now?”, a near word-to-word copy of Stephen Curry’s iconic line, “What are they gonna say now?” after he won the Finals MVP in 2022.
At the post-game party, Tatum got on the mic and referenced a famous Kanye West quote. Fans labeled the attempt lame as almost everyone in attendance knew the punchline.
The Celtics forward also caught flak for allegedly attempting to recreate the infamous ‘sad Kobe Bryant‘ image from 2001. However, there’s seemingly no concrete evidence that he tried to feign sadness and pretend he was as glum as the Lakers icon was in the photo.
To his credit, Tatum has ignored the trolling and continued enjoying his life. After winning the NBA title, he signed the biggest contract in NBA history, adding another feather to his cap.
He’s now looking to win his second Olympic gold medal in Paris and also awaiting the birth of his second child. It’s been a stellar year for the 26-year-old superstar and a little online vitriol won’t change that.
