All eyes were on the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks a few months ago as they prepared to face off during the NBA Finals.
A lot of opinions were tossed around before the championship series and Jayson Tatum of the Celtics wasn’t happy with many of them.
In the new Netflix series “Starting 5″, via Daniel Donabedian, Tatum expressed his displeasure with analysts stating the Mavericks would win the Finals over the Celtics.
“I didn’t know if they were trolling … or they really thought that the Mavs were gonna beat us … But I guess it felt good to be the underdog. First time in a while,” Tatum said.
In the end, the Celtics weren’t the underdogs and they found definitive success and earned their 18th banner.
Jayson Tatum was surprised to see so many media members pick the Mavs to win the Finals, but he didn’t mind.
“I didn't know if they were trolling … or they really thought that the Mavs were gonna beat us … But I guess it felt good to be the underdog. First time in a while.”… pic.twitter.com/lSIGKUV5mK
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) October 10, 2024
The Celtics had a relatively easy march to the Finals and that is partly why so many people didn’t think they could go all the way.
They were playing short-handed teams throughout the postseason and some fans and commentators felt they weren’t being challenged.
In many ways, the Mavericks were their first fully healthy and robust opponents in the playoffs.
That is one of the reasons why some people thought the Celtics would lose, but others weren’t convinced by Tatum’s skill and commitment to lead.
They felt the Celtics had repeatedly come up short and still hadn’t improved in the necessary ways.
Meanwhile, Luka Doncic is one of the best players in the league and was posting MVP-like numbers.
To be fair, there were many who felt the Celtics would easily beat the Mavericks but obviously Tatum heard more of the criticisms than the praise.
But the only thing that matters is the final score and the Celtics easily took down the Mavericks, silencing the critics.
NEXT: Jayson Tatum Gets Honest About Relationship With Joe Mazzulla
