The Ways In Which ESPN Continues To Try And Lie And Discredit Jayson Tatum Is Getting Really Fucking Weird
Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.On Tuesday night, Jayson Tatum had one of the best all around performances of the young NBA season to carry the Celtics to a thrilling OT win. He did it all. He scored at all three levels, he got to the line, he created for others, he didn't have a single turnover, and most important of all, he hit the game winner
It was the exact type of MVP caliber performance you're expecting from a player of Tatum's caliber in that spot. That's the role of being the #1. Can you backpack your team and prevent disaster from happening on your own floor? In this win, the answer was yes. He was the story of the night, he was THE GUY, whatever the hell you want to call it. Anyone with a brain and eyes could see that.
Enter ESPN. How do we think this game and Tatum performance was talked about on the Worldwide Leader? Let's have a listen
OK, let's have a look at this "depth" in this win
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Hmmmm OK, Luka Garza and Baylor Scheierman. Let's see. Ah yes, a combined 5 points on 2-9 (1-4) shooting. The entire bench? A total of 27 points scored.
So let's just take a minute to process what Windy is now crediting this Celtics win to. No, it's not the guy who played the most minutes, took the most shots, scored the most points, had the most assists, outscored the entire Celtics bench by 13 points, or hit the game winner. Nope. It was the two guys who scored a combined 5 points.
Giphy Images.I'm sorry, but who else gets talked about like this after the performance and game that took place? No one. It's insane. Windy clearly didn't watch the game, which is a bit of an issue since he's being asked to talk about the game. He clearly saw the box score and looked at +/- and ran with it. To try and create a narrative that Jayson Tatum didn't carry the Celtics to this victory and it was instead two bench players that scored 5 points??? I'm serious, tell me another superstar player that has to deal with this narrative being spewed on National Television?
But as we know, this is what ESPN does with Jayson Tatum. No matter what he does, instead of just being normal, they instead continue to try and discredit him. It's bizarre. It's something we've been dealing with for years, especially during Tatum's historic 2024 playoff run. Just look at some of this shit
After a Game 1 WIN against the Pacers in ECF where Tatum put up 36/12/4/3 including big plays down the stretch. What was the narrative on ESPN about that performance?
"How can Jayson Tatum stop questions regarding his play?"
Don't worry, there's more! You see, you may think 36/12/4/3 is a good statline. Ha, you fool. Because when it comes to ESPN discussing it, it was #actuallybad because Tatum should have had 50 points instead
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Another totally normal takeaway from a stellar playoff performance! Surely this is said about every NBA star who has a big game right? Unless they scored 50, it actually stinks!
How about after Game 4 against the Cavs in the previous round? This was a Celtics road win with Tatum putting up 33/11/5. After that performance carrying the Celts to a 3-1 lead, Tatum was averaging 27/10.5/7 for the series! What was ESPN's takeaway?
"Is Jayson Tatum doing enough?"
How about despite being one of the most accomplished playoff performers in NBA history, the second the Celtics lose a game, we all know what happens. Everything about Tatum's entire career gets questioned. A classic example of this was following a 36/9/4 game, a 37/14/3 game, and a 35/8/10 game to close out the Magic in 2025, for some reason ESPN was asking this question
Mind you, shit like this exists
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All of this happened prior to that 2025 Knicks series. I dunno, seems to me like that guy is pretty good in the playoffs!
And then there's my personal favorite. When Windy went on TV and said Tatum couldn't win the 2024 regular season MVP because he had a poor 2022 NBA Finals, as if that matters AT ALL?? Because anytime you have the opportunity to discredit an NBA caliber season because of what took place 2 years prior, you simply have to do it!
The fact that this is STILL happening in 2026, specifically after THAT Tatum performance on Tuesday night is just nasty work. My question is why? What's the point of this? Is it really worth the engagement and pageviews where you are going on TV ans saying two guys who scored 5 points were the real story and not the guy who dropped 40 and hit the game winner?
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Did we hear this about SGA or Luka or Wemby or Jokic? Of course not! Yet with Tatum, it's literally happening with everything he does. Mind you, a lot of these same people vote on MVP! That's the really fucked part about this. How can we as fans expect them to be objective when clearly they are either
A) Not watching the games
B) Are watching, and are intentionally choosing to create a false narrative
Which is it?
It's all just so fucking weird to me. Just be normal! When he stinks, talk about how he played poorly. When he's awesome, talk about how well he played and give ample credit. I see it happen with every other star in the NBA, so I know it's possible.
Giphy Images.