Jayson Tatum responds to his reported trip on the game winner

Jayson Tatum’s buzzer-beater in overtime against the Raptors was somewhat marred by the NBA’s report from the final two minutes of the game, which indicated the Celtics superstar had committed a trip before the shot.

The L2M also confirmed Boston’s feelings that Jaylen Brown was fouled away from the ball, leading to Tatum’s improvised footwork. The NBA noted that this was among a few missed calls made by officials during Saturday’s overtime.

On Friday afternoon, Tatum spoke about his trip for the first time since the report was released.

“They said Jakob Poeltl had a three-second call, then they said I fouled him, then they said JB was fouled, then they said I had traveled,” Tatum said. “So they missed a lot of [expletive]. They didn’t call it, so we won.

Tatum added that he still doesn’t think he traveled during the play.

Many hypothetical scenarios could arise based on one of these missed foul calls being made at that time. But, as Tatum said, none of them were called, and the result of the play was a clutch made by Boston’s leading scorer.

Tatum’s reputation as a clutch scorer is also growing; he leads all NBA players in shots to tie or take the lead in the final five seconds of regulation or overtime since the start of the 2019 season.

Tatum followed up his performance against Toronto with a dominant night Tuesday to take down the previously undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. NBA.com ranked Tatum second in the MVP standings on Friday, behind former MVP Nikola Jokic.

Tatum and the Celtics look to extend their winning streak against the Washington Wizards on Friday night.