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‘This is what I get for dirtying LeBron’: Furious Jayson Tatum rages after being ejected in Celtics loss to Knicks as Julius Randle’s slap on his arm isn’t called a foul, a month after he escaped a penalty on James.
Jayson Tatum lamented his bad luck after the Celtics’ loss to the Knicks on Monday night, blaming his no-call foul on LeBron James a month ago for his misfortunes at Madison Square Garden.
Tatum was ejected from the 109-94 loss with less than four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after commenting on officiating on two separate occasions.
The second time around, after a play in which Knicks forward Julius Randle appeared to make contact with his arm after attempting a 3-pointer, Tatum sarcastically praised the job the refs were doing.
“I just told him this was probably the best refereed game I’ve ever been a part of,” he said of the comment that sent him off.
‘I tried to pay him a compliment. It didn’t go so well.
Jayson Tatum wasn’t a fan of officiating Monday night against the Knicks
Tatum received his first technique after complaining that no foul was called on this dunk.
Tatum’s ejection from the loss came about a month after the Celtics controversially beat the Lakers in overtime, with Tatum extremely lucky not to be fouled on James’ last-second layup attempt.
The former Duke player clearly slapped James on the arm with the score tied 105-105, but the Lakers star was denied a chance to win the game at the free throw line.
Tatum connected his misfortunes on Monday to that no-call.
“Hahaha this is what I get for fouling Bron,” he wrote on Twitter in response to a clip of the attempt in which he believed Randle fouled him.
The NBA referees union acknowledged its mistake in the Tatum-James incident soon after, saying it was “heartbreaking” to miss the call.
Other than the ejection, it was a nightmarish night for Tatum at The Garden, as he scored just 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
LeBron James was unlucky enough not to shoot free throws after Tatum hit him in the arm last month.
James was perplexed by the no call, as the Lakers would eventually lose in overtime.
With the loss, the Celtics also vacated the top seed in the East (simply by winning percentage) to the Bucks.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have won eight of their last nine games and taken over the No. 5 seed from the Nets.
Ultimately, Tatum, who is having an MVP-caliber season averaging 30.1 points per game, was able to find a bit of humor in the situation.
“All the great players get sent off multiple times in their career,” he said. ‘So, it’s good for my reputation.’