Starting 5: Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum perplexed by media for picking Mavs to win NBA Finals in Netflix series

Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum was pretty confused by the media before the Celtics played the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals, revealed in the Netflix documentary Starting 5 . He couldn’t tell if the media was trolling or not.

“It was just every day I turn the TV on, it was, you know, there was just a lot of debates and speculations and people giving ‘hot takes’,” said Tatum. “People have their own opinions. I don’t understand why. I didn’t know, for lack of a better term, if they were trolling”.

Tatum also felt disrespected personally by the media saying he wouldn’t perform in the Finals at all due to pressure.

“Slightly disrespectful takes, about me or about what I’ve accomplished, or what they think I can or can't do, or they really thought the Mavs were gonna beat us.”

However, Tatum started to like being counted out. It made become something he hadn’t been in a long time; an underdog.

“It was just ‘Jayson Tatum, Jayson Tatum, Jayson Tatum’ every day, but I guess it felt good to be the underdog. First time in a while.

The Celtics went on to beat the Mavs in a Gentleman’s Sweep, 4-1. It was exactly 16 years from the last time the team won in 2008.

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