Eddie House reacts to Jayson Tatum’s first career ejection after receiving his second technical of the night for arguing calls. House says Tatum doesn’t get the respect he deserves for a player of his caliber.
Jayson Tatum's frustrations boiled over late in Monday night's loss to the New York Knicks.
The Boston Celtics star gave the officials an earful for missing a foul call toward the end of the game. He said enough to earn his second technical foul of the night and the first ejection of his NBA career.
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Former Celtic Eddie House is taking Tatum's side on this one. After the game, House explained why Tatum had every right to be upset with the officials.
"I tell you this, it won't be his last [ejection] because he doesn't get the respect from the referees as the player that he is. You know, superstar status," House said on Celtics Postgame Live.
"This right here is a clear-cut foul. I don't care if the ball's gone, you can't hit his arm. He has every right to be upset at that. That does bother you as a shooter, that is something that upsets you, and then he should have the right to talk to referees. He's not being demonstrative, he's not showing the referee up. ...
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"They have to understand who they're dealing with. This ain't Jayson Tatum who just came into the league. This is Jayson Tatum who's an MVP candidate, who has been part of the NBA Finals, five conference finals, and on top of that won the MVP of the All-Star Game. He has to get some respect. And I understand where it's coming from, because he sees everyone else getting that respect and he's not getting it. Yeah, he should be upset."
Tatum wasn't the only one frustrated with how the game was being called.
"How can I say this without getting in trouble? It wasn't the same as the Philly game," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said during his postgame press conference.
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The Celtics had 22 personal fouls to the Knicks' 11. New York had a whopping 34 free-throw attempts. Meanwhile, Tatum got to the line once the entire night.
As much as the free-throw discrepancy played a factor, Boston's 3-point struggles were the reason for its 109-94 defeat. The team missed 17 consecutive 3s after making its first of the game and finished 9-for-42 (21.4 percent) from beyond the arc. That marked the Celtics' worst 3-point shooting performance of the season thus far.
Tatum's ejection capped off a rough night for the four-time All-Star. He notched 14 points while shooting 6-of-18 from the floor and only 1-for-9 from 3.
He and the C's will look to bounce back when they return home to face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
