Boston Celtics champion Jayson Tatum opened up about head coach Steve Kerr's decision to not play him in Team USA's Olympic-opening win over Serbia, calling the experience "humbling."
Not many bought Kerr's explanation about "combinations," especially after the Americans defeated Serbia by 26 points. Celtis legend Paul Pierce gave a more simple, yet deeper reason on Friday's episode of "Undisputed."
"I don't think this was humbling. This was more like a slap in the face," Pierce said. "Think about this. After the game, Kerr was like, what was the word he used? He felt bad. Felt like an idiot, and then you try and sit (Joel) Embiid in the next game to kind of justify it. Like, 'Look, I sat the MVP.' Nah, that ain't what this was."
When asked what he thought the real reason was, Pierce didn't hesitate to share that it has more to do with the NBA team Tatum plays for than the player himself.
"Just Celtic hate -- good old Celtic hate," he said. "That's all it's ever been."
Pierce doubled down with his reasoning even after it was pointed out that the two other Celtics players -- Jrue Holiday and Derrick White -- have been getting minutes despite wearing green during the NBA season.
"When you are the guy for the Celtics, there's a lot of hate," Pierce said. "I know from first-hand experience. Jaylen Brown, he can't even get in. He can't even get on the team, Finals MVP. Think about this, there's no team on planet Earth that Jayson Tatum shouldn't get minutes on. No team on planet Earth. All-Star, USA. This guy is coming off a championship; he's been first-team All-NBA for three straight years.
"You know what that means? I'm one of the five best players on the planet. On the planet for the last three years. People think I'm one of the five best players on the planet, and I can't get in a game? ... Let me tell you something: Jayson Tatum matches up with everybody. ... He's athletically gifted enough to guard all those positions. Humbling as he may put it, yeah, he can say those words, but I'm gonna say this was an insult. Pure insult to a player of his caliber."
Tatum has started the last two contests for Team USA against South Sudan and Puerto Rico. In the first matchup, the Celtics forward had four points, two assists and five rebounds. Against Puerto Rico, he just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Tatum added three assists and two steals to his superb stat line in Team USA's 104-83 victory.
Team USA has secured an undefeated 3-0 run in Group C to move on to the quarterfinal round. Canada (Group A) and Germany (Group B) also went undefeated in group play. The Americans will take on Brazil on Tuesday for their first game of the quarterfinals.
