‘Soft A** St. Louis kid’: When Jayson Tatum was goaded by Coach Mike Kryzewski into delivering a stellar second-half performance for Duke

Jayson Tatum spoke about one of the instances when Duke head coach Mike Kryzewski taunted him, which helped him to have a great game.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski is one of the most accomplished collegiate coaches in basketball history. The Duke Men’s Basketball coach has spent over 40 years with the team. He is one of the, if not the best ever at his job. Time and again, Coach K has mentored some great college athletes as well as some top world-class players for team USA.

In more than 40 years of coaching Duke, Coach K would have countless memories and a strong bond with all his players. What he has done at Duke is much bigger than greatness, he’s managed to build a dynasty, unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum was one of the prodigies what Duke offered to the NBA. Tatum has often told how Coach K would motivate his players when they weren’t playing their best basketball:

“We (were) playing at Virginia and I only had two points. I had two points in the first half, and I guess I kept passing up shots. Came in, (Coach K) took his suit jacket off and he threw it like right at my feet.”

“And he was yelling at me, and I’ll never forget this — he said, ‘You acting like a soft-ass St. Louis kid.’ And I was pissed. I had like 28 points in the second half.”

The Knuckleheads are back with some real teammate talk.@jaytatum0 and @KyrieIrving join the latest episode to share their best Coach K stories, Kobe’s impact on their game, the time they almost squared up and more.

🔊: https://t.co/ZyWXxhBjNe (In partnership with @HennessyUS) pic.twitter.com/w6tTav6Rq1

— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) March 12, 2019

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‘I let it be known I’m from St. Louis’: Jayson Tatum embraces the fact he’s from St. Louis

The All-NBA player out of Duke has clearly made his alma mater proud of him. Being considered as the leader of the team and to be successful the way he has at the age of only 22 is commendable.

Jayson Tatum has made it pretty clear that he wasn’t embarrassed to be known that he’s from St. Louis. He spoke about him being from St. Louis:

“Anywhere I go — I go out of town, I let it be known like I’m from St. Louis. So, you can’t call me soft and you can’t disrespect where I’m from. And he knew the buttons to push because the whole second half I was hot.”

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Clearly, Coach K is best at his job. The 22-year-old is a good example of the many Duke players who managed to be successful in the league. Tatum has been averaging career-highs with 25.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game only in his 4th NBA season.