Jayson Tatum did not play a second in Team USA’s 110-84 win over Serbia earlier today. This shocked everyone. Tatum is coming off an incredible 2023-24 NBA season, which culminated in his Boston Celtics winning the NBA Finals in June. While Team USA is loaded with talent, nobody could have seen Tatum getting benched in their opening game in Paris.
The big question now is whether this trend is going to continue. The USA played fantastic today with their rotations on the floor. USA Head Coach Steve Kerr has been heavily criticized for his rotations in the previous USA scrimmages this month. Seeing him completely changing something that worked so well today would be hard. Tatum is going to have to fight to earn more playing time. How much will he play going forward?
Tatum Benched
Seeing Jayson Tatum, who is widely regarded as a top 5-10 player in the world, not see the court in the Olympic opener caught everyone off guard. In the immediate aftermath, it was thought that Tatum potentially had a lingering injury or a sickness that may have been the reason for him not playing against Team Serbia. That was not the case.
After the game, Tatum was asked by Boston Globe reporter Gary Washburn if he was sick. Tatum responded, “No, I’m good.” Steve Kerr admitted in the post-game press conference that Tatum was just a DNP and had no underlying reason for it. Kerr said “I went with the combinations that made sense. That was for tonight. He handled it well. He’ll make his mark.” This response from Kerr makes it clear that Tatum will get an opportunity before these Olympic games are over. Kerr added that he “Felt like an idiot” for not playing Tatum.
As great of a year it has been for Jayson Tatum, he has still faced adversity. He didn’t win either the Eastern Conference Finals MVP or NBA Finals MVP, which seems to carry a lot more weight in NBA talk nowadays. Not winning these awards gives ammo to those saying he’s not the best player on the Celtics and the team around him is just great. It’s a very unfair assessment and Tatum has to ignore that chatter. He has a solid head on his shoulders so this is not expected to set him back. If anything, it will motivate him to be even better.
Team USA Dominates Team Serbia
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Team USA got their 2024 Olympics off to a flying start with a 110-84 win to open group play. Nikola Jokic and Team Serbia were no match for LeBron James and company. James led the way with 21 points and 9 assists. Durant off the bench shot 8 for 9 and finished with 23 points. For Serbia, Jokic had 20 points and 8 assists.
Next for the USA is a match up against South Sudan on Wednesday. Just a week ago, these two teams played in a scrimmage, where the US prevailed by just one point. South Sudan started their Olympics off today with a win versus Puerto Rico.
There are many storylines heading into this USA versus South Sudan game. The USA is trying to show that the one point game was a fluke and they are miles better. South Sudan wants to prove to the world that they are a true contender for the gold medal. It should be a great game. We will also see how Steve Kerr moves his lineups around and if Jayson Tatum will get some run.
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