Mazzulla: Giannis’ missed bad call on Tatum was ‘ridiculous’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Jayson Tatum gave Boston Celtics fans a scare when he tweaked his ankle in the third quarter of Sunday’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. He landed on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot after a 3-point attempt, although no touchdown zone foul was called on the Bucks star.
Fortunately for the C’s, Tatum shook off the injury and stayed in the game. However, C’s head coach Joe Mazzulla was none too pleased that Antetokounmpo was not called for a flagrant foul.
“That’s ridiculous,” Mazzulla said of the missed call during his postgame press conference. “Can’t miss that. Can’t miss that.”
Tatum chimed in with his own thoughts on social media.
“Smfh some calls you just weren’t supposed to miss,” he wrote on X.
Tatum propelled Boston to a 113-107 victory with 31 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. Mazzulla praised his star adding that the referees acknowledged they missed the call.
“He didn’t let it affect the rest of the game on either end of the floor,” Mazzulla said. “But the refs did a great job. They knew they missed it. … But credit to (Tatum) for handling it the right way.”
Tatum has now scored at least 30 points in seven of 11 games this season. He is playing at an MVP level with 30.5 points (47.8 percent FG), 7.2 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.
The Celtics improved to 9-2 with the victory. The Bucks are now a woeful 2-8, tying them with the Toronto Raptors for 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Boston will look to earn its third straight win when it hosts the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday for the first game of the 2024 NBA Cup. Tip-off for that matchup is set for 7 pm ET on NBC Sports Boston.
