Tatum, Mazzulla react to ‘ridiculous’ missed foul call on Giannis

Tatum, Mazzulla react to ‘ridiculous’ missed foul call on Giannis originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum gave Boston Celtics fans a scare when he tweaked his ankle in the third quarter of Sunday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He landed on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot after a 3-point attempt, though no landing zone foul was called on the Bucks star.

Fortunately for the C’s, Tatum shook off the injury and stayed in the game. Still, C’s head coach Joe Mazzulla was none too pleased that Antetokounmpo wasn’t called for a flagrant foul.

“That’s ridiculous,” Mazzulla said of the missed call during his postgame press conference. “Can’t miss that. Can’t miss that.”

Tatum echoed Mazzulla’s sentiments and expressed his frustration with the no-call.

“Your job is to protect the guys on the court. … I could’ve been out for 6 weeks,” he said. “For it to be a no-call… that (expletive) is frustrating.”

He also took to social media to criticize the officiating.

“Smfh some calls you just not supposed to miss,” he wrote on X.

Tatum propelled Boston to a 113-107 victory with 31 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. Mazzulla praised his star while adding that the refs acknowledged they missed the call.

“He didn’t let it impact the rest of the game on either end of the floor,” Mazzulla said. “But the refs did a great job. They knew that they missed it. … But credit to (Tatum) for handling it the right way.”

Tatum has now scored at least 30 points in seven of 11 games this season. He’s playing at an MVP level with 30.5 points (47.8 percent FG), 7.2 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.

The Celtics improved to 9-2 with the win. The Bucks are now a woeful 2-8, tying them with the Toronto Raptors for 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Boston will look to earn its third consecutive victory when it hosts the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday for the first game of the 2024 NBA Cup. Tip-off for that matchup is set for 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.