Karalis: Jayson Tatum's ejection a case of cooler heads being necessary on both sides

At first glance, from inside the arena, Jayson Tatum’s ejection looked clear as day. 

Tatum, complaining about what he thought was a foul, had some words for the officials. He was asked to stop by one of them. Another directed him towards the bench and even signaled to the Celtics staff to come get Tatum, who already had a technical foul. 

Tatum then proceeded to talk, saying something that got two officials to separately blow their whistles and eject him from the game. Sitting in the house, that screams “magic word,” a curse or accusation that immediately earns anyone a technical foul. 

“Did I cuss? No I didn’t. I didn't have to say a cuss word. If you watch the clips you probably can read my lips. No hand gestures,” Tatum said. “I've been in the league long enough, I've seen a lot worse behavior and reactions get tolerated for a lot longer. So for those two to throw me out the game, I was shocked. And it's like you always say get your money's worth, right, when you get fined for these techs. And I definitely did not get my money's worth for getting thrown out the game tonight.”

Tatum’s point is well-taken. Patrick Beverley was more demonstrative after foul calls than Tatum was in this game. Draymond Green has done much more than Tatum did in this confrontation and has stayed in games. Consider it the talking version of the “they can’t call them all” mentality. 

So what did Tatum do to get tossed?

“Following a loose ball foul that was called on Jayson, Jayson continued to complain and was asked multiple times to head to his bench,” Crew Chief Bill Kennedy told the Globe’s Gary Washburn in a pool report. “He continued to complain about the foul called on the floor and overtly gestures toward the officials and was assessed a second technical foul.”

Overtly gestures? Of all the explanations, that one might be the least believable. 

“It's like the refs word against ours,” Tatum said. “And at that moment, when they throw you out, they throw you out. Even if I was right, they could go back and talk about it after the game. It's not like we get that game back. I don’t get that time back. So, you know, it’s unfortunate, but like I said, I can't change what happened. You know, just how players, we compete and affect the game, the refs have an effect on the game. So they threw me out and right or wrong, it's their word against ours, and I can't get that time back.”

Luckily for Tatum, the worst thing to come of this is a hit to his season averages. Boston rallied to beat a Philadelphia team that probably should have been beaten more soundly. And maybe if Tatum had been more careful with the ball, he wouldn’t have been in a position to have to be careful with his mouth. 

There's a push/pull thing with Tatum and the officials. He’s earned dozens of technical fouls over time, very often for dismissive gesturing towards the refs. It’s happened so often that Tatum should know better by now. At the same time, Tatum is no Draymond, so it's hard to fathom that this warrants an ejection when other, worse actions in the league don’t. 

“I hate not being out there to not help the team win,” Tatum said. “And I hate the thought of the people that came – maybe it was some peoples’ first game to come see me play and didn’t get to see me play the entire game. But we still won, so there’s some positives that came out of tonight.”

To be fair, Tatum the people who paid to watch Tatum’s first three quarters might want a refund based on his seven turnovers. And Tatum was a -7 in his time on the floor, a rare time where maybe the Celtics were better off without him on the floor. 

Still, this is the conundrum with Tatum. He is such a great basketball player that it feels like he does himself a disservice spending emotional capital on the referees. Every star player is going to talk to the refs throughout the game, but Tatum’s relationship with the officials seems strained. It seems like he gets a quicker tech than some, even if he’s less demonstrative about it. 

“I actually like some of that. I think some of that is important,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Obviously, you don't want it to get in the way of where it gets in the way of winning, but I think that type of passion and caring about it, I err on the side of I'd rather see that and then nothing at all. Sometimes pick and choose your spots, but I'm not going to say anything to him.”

There is a balance with this kind of stuff. Star players tend to get a little leniency to say what needs to be said, and after a technical is assessed, there is a little more leeway before doing something like ejecting him from a nationally televised game. I’m sure the league office was not entirely excited about losing Tatum from a game where Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey were already missing. 

And Tatum needs to keep himself in check, which he has been better about this season. These were his second and third techs of the year, and we can see he’s been less demonstrative. 

Which makes this ejection even weirder the closer you look at it. Tatum has to be better so he’s not in a position to be tossed by a quick trigger. Also, refs can’t have quick triggers. Maybe this was a case of both sides being right and wrong. 

Tatum was talking. Maybe a little too much, but nothing that seemed egregious. Should he have shut up? Yes. Should he have been tossed? Maybe not. 

“I wasn’t that f---ing mad. Don’t put that narrative out there,” Tatum said. “Maybe they didn’t want me to play tonight; they was eager to get me out of there. I walked back calmly, I sat in my chair, got some ice. I was not mad, I didn’t throw anything. It was like a joke. I had to laugh it off. So no, I didn’t cry, I didn’t throw anything. I got my ice and watched the rest of the game, watched us win.”