Stephen A ‘never sad’ to see Tatum torch Dubs after OL benching

Stephen A ‘never sad’ to see Tatum torch Dubs after OL benching originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Warriors coach Steve Kerr made no friends in Boston when he benched Celtics star Jayson Tatum during the 2024 Paris Olympics, but he helped guide Team USA to a gold medal.

Still, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believes Kerr made a “terrible” mistake by leaving Tatum out of his rotation during the summer games — and it filled the NBA analyst with joy to see Tatum drop 22 points in Boston’s blowout win over a shorthanded Golden State team on Monday.

“It was predictable, but I’m never sad and I’m never sad to see Jayson Tatum give it to the Golden State Warriors,” Smith said on Tuesday’s “First Take” episode. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Steve Kerr is one of the best coaches in NBA history. Not here to question his basketball sense or anything. I’m here to compliment him on to recognize his greatness and use it to make the point.

“You don’t go up to an All-NBA player in Olympic competition before a game and tell him, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to find minutes for you. And I’ve got 10 guys to put in. ‘ (Tatum’s) been First-Team All-NBA the last (three years) and two guys who defer to him all season long. And you play them, but you can’t find minutes. It was something of the most horrible thing I’ve seen, and every time Jayson Tatum kicks the Warriors’ ass, I’ll be happy for as long as Kerr is the coach, because it was wrong.”

Kerr drew the ire of Celtics fans — and Smith, apparently — when he benched Tatum twice during the Olympics. After Tatum had the second-fewest minutes of any player on Team USA’s roster, many watched Golden State’s matchup with Boston at TD Garden in November as a “revenge game” for the Celtics star.

After dropping 32 points in the Celtics’ loss to the Warriors, Tatum told reporters he didn’t see it as such.

“It wasn’t in my mind,” Tatum said. “Just another Wednesday. Another game. Another opportunity to come in and try to be the best player I can be. Another day to just try to win.”

The The Warriors won that game in the midst of a 12-3 start to the season, but that wasn’t the case at the Chase Center on Monday as Golden State fell to 21-21 — and Tatum got revenge again, in Smith’s eyes.

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