Jayson Tatum has become the NBA player people love to hate and he recently opened up about how he deals with the outside noise.
Tatum is a five-time All-Star, has won two Olympic gold medals and has a championship under his belt at the ripe age of 26.
But the scrunity from NBA media and the community at large seems to be relentless and Tatum isn’t blind to it.
“It’s tough to see people talking about you on TV or doubting you on TV, or all the things they say on Twitter because for one, how much you sacrifice and how hard you work on your craft,” Tatum said, via the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. “You want to be the best. You want to play your best every single night and it just doesn’t work out that way.”
In the same interview, Tatum revealed the moment he knew the Celtics would secure their first championship in 16 years.
“People always ask me, when did you guys know you were going to win a championship?” Tatum said. “When Minnesota beat Denver, I felt like Denver was the only team that they matched up best with us. I thought that we were going to play Denver in the Finals and it was going to be a good one.”
Many argue that Boston had an ‘easy run’ to the championship last season after facing teams that were completely decimated with injury in the playoffs.
This season may prove different as many Eastern conference teams like the Knicks and 76ers have bolstered their lineups during the off-season and the Celtics have taken notice.
“[Coach] Joe Mazzulla, he had a great quote the other day,” Tatum said. “He said, we’re not defending anything. We’re chasing another championship… Honestly, after opening night, we have to put it behind us. It’s a new season. Last year was last year, we accomplished something special. We’ve got to figure out a way to get better. We wanted to approach the game with the same mind-set, and we did an amazing job of that last year.”
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