Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics were at 10-3 going into their nail-biter against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The defending Eastern Conference champions are currently number 1 on the NBA’s power ranking and rightfully so.
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Tatum has been playing like an MVP candidate so far, averaging 32.3 points a game along with 7.2 grabbing 7.2 rebounds a night. He did however stray away from those averages tonight against Shai Gilgeous-Alexandar and his Thunder, dropping 27 points on 39% shooting from the field.
The Celts would come away with the win but not without SGA trying his best to keep the lottery Thunder in the game with quick twos in the final minute. Tatum would ice the game at the free throw line by making it a two possession game with 4 seconds left on the clock.
Also read: Jayson Tatum Becomes Youngest to Join the 8000-800 Club, Ahead of the Likes of Stephen Curry
Kevin Durant calls out the egregious technical foul on Jayson Tatum
A minute into the second quarter, Jayson Tatum pushed Aleksej Pokusevski into Derrick White in an attempt to steal the ball/disrupt the play. A standard basketball play with a hint of aggression. Nothing NBA hardwood hasn’t seen before.
Upon getting called for the foul, all Tatum does is clap his hands in slight frustration. This was enough for the referee to call a technical foul on him, leading to a free throw on the other end for the OKC Thunder.
Quite the egregious call. So much so that Kevin Durant was forced into taking to Twitter to personally call out the officials for making that call, calling it the ‘worst tech’ in recent NBA history.
What are a few of the most outrageous technical fouls in NBA history?
Right off the bat, Tim Duncan getting a technical foul for laughing on the bench during a Spurs game has to be up there as one of the most horrendous techs handed out in NBA history.
Of course, Rasheed Wallace trying to ‘intimidate’ ref, Ron Garretson, with his eyes was enough to get him ejected from a Blazers-Lakers game. When it comes recent techs, the one on Kyle Lowry for simply tossing the ball at a ref last season is one for the ages.
