Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum made an early exit during the preseason finale against the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
During the third quarter, Tatum received his second technical foul from the officials after committing a common foul on Raptors forward Scottie Barnes. Tatum, who was displeased with the call, waved his arm in a disapproving fashion toward one of the officials, earning himself an early exit from the contest, as seen in Sportscenter video.
Celtics teammate Grant Williams also received a technical foul for arguing in Tatum’s defense. After those two technical fouls, the Celtics received one more due to a delay of game and Williams broke down the bizarre sequence following the contest.
“(Tatum) said like, ‘That’s BS’ or something simple like something you don’t really get a tech for,” Williams said, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “I didn’t see it. I guess JT waved him off, got ejected. And then, I said, ‘Referee the game, not your emotions’ and I got a technical. And then, after that, we got a delay of game technical because JT didn’t walk off the court immediately.”
Williams added: “We gotta do a better job getting JT off the floor, and I gotta do a better job just holding my tongue. … And that’s something we’ll improve on and not carry over into the regular season.”
Considering the nature of the matchup being a preseason game, the quick-whistle trigger came as a surprise not only to Tatum, but to the Celtics who received three total technical fouls in the sequence.
Tatum finished the night scoring 21 points while shooting 6-for-15 from the field with nine rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes played. The 24-year-old also knocked down three 3-point attempts while shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
The Celtics dropped the final preseason contest, 137-134, in an overtime thriller. All the focus will be set on regular-season play now, which begins on Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.
