Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum avoided an ankle injury in Game 4 in Miami after a run in with Bam Adebayo.
With 5:04 remaining in the fourth quarter, Derrick White hit the floor on a foul by Patty Mills. As the play is dead, Tatum took a 3-point shot from the top of the key, to which Adebayo contested inside of Tatum’s landing space causing Tatum to land on Adebayo’s foot and him hitting the floor next to White.
Al Horford was on the court and ran over to make sure his teammate was ok, making sure to bump Adebayo out of the way to make a statement about being careless. Horford was issued a technical foul.
Adebayo was clearly in Tatum’s landing space but he looked right at Tatum and said “come on, man” throwing his arms in the air, as if he thought Tatum flopped.
During postgame, Tatum explained all of the injuries he’s had on the same ankle in recent years. But he just needed to catch his breath and assure everything was fine before getting up to hit some free throws.
“Same ankle that I hurt in game seven last year that I hurt against the Warriors, that I tweaked against the Clippers. So, didn’t feel good at first, but I mean, yeah, it was just that. I don’t want to make it a bigger deal than it is”
Adebayo didn’t have much to add during his postgame press conference when asked what the explanation was for receiving a flagrant 1 penalty on Tatum.
“Bro, I don’t even know, dawg. We just going to move on from that… you going to get me fined.”
Tatum and Adebayo are good friends. It’s hard to believe that there was any malicious intent from Adebayo. It’s fair to say that regardless of friendships, when it’s time to step on the court and battle each other, the only friends you have are your teammates.
I know one thing though: Tatum didn’t appreciate it at all, especially when this series started with a similar situation on him.
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