Morning sports update: Jayson Tatum offered his thoughts on the Russell Westbrook incident with a Jazz fan
"People always expect us to turn the shoulder."
The Celtics play the Kings tonight at TD Garden at 8 p.m. The Bruins are in Winnipeg to play the Jets at 7:30 p.m.
Jayson Tatum’s thoughts on Russell Westbrook: On Monday night, a Utah Jazz fan sitting near the Oklahoma City Thunder’s bench engaged in a mid-game argument with Thunder star Russell Westbrook. The incident led to the fan being banned for life from the arena, and Westbrook receiving a $25,000 fine from the league.
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was asked on Wednesday what he thought about it.
“People always expect us to turn the shoulder. And we get paid all this money, we should be able to let them talk to us any kind of way, and that’s just not true,” Tatum told MassLive’s John Karalis. “For the most part, we do a good job of letting go and running out the other way, but what that person said was tough. It was out of line and very disrespectful to who he was as a person. We’ve all been out there. You’ve got to stand up for yourself.”
Trivia: I played college basketball at a New England school. I broke my school’s record for most points in program history (a record previously held by Dana Barros). As a senior, I was named my conference’s player of the year for the second time. I was drafted by the Celtics with the 16th pick, but immediately traded for a player who eventually helped Boston win a title in 2008. Who am I? (The answer is at the bottom).
Hint: He was drafted in 2003.
More from Boston.com:
- Patriots extend qualifying offers to Josh Gordon, Jonathan Jones
- In rare interview, James Dolan claims Bill Simmons and an NBA GM are conspiring against the Knicks
- Celtics haven’t earned our complete trust, but the signs are good
- Here’s the latest news on injured Bruins players
- Here’s a rundown of the Patriots’ offseason moves so far
- These 5 NFL teams have made significant moves already this offseason
- Jaguars officially agree to terms with Nick Foles, release Blake Bortles
- CBS and NBC swap Super Bowl telecast years in 2021 and 2022
NFL free agency so far
: The Patriots made a predictably quiet start to free agency, but other teams have been bold. Several players have received enormous contracts (in proportion to their perceived ability). As Boston Globe Patriots writer Ben Volin noted, one player agent described the spending frenzy as “a bunch of C-plus and B-minus players getting ‘A’ money.” [The Boston Globe]
The latest Patriots report:
Source confirms Patriots are hosting former Chiefs DL Allen Bailey today. Has the versatility and size to play inside or edge
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 14, 2019
It’s good to be boring: Bruins defensemen Brandon Carlo is not a player who helps create goals, as the statistics show. However, as the statistics also show, his goals against per 60 minutes is the best among defensemen with over 1,000 minutes in 5-on-5 hockey. For the Bruins, that’s all that counts. [The Athletic]
Patriots center David Andrews is excited to have Jason McCourty back:
— David Andrews (@dandrews61) March 13, 2019
Robert Williams III made the tip-in to force overtime in an eventual Maine Red Claws loss:
😱😱😱 @rob_williamsIII with the TIP DUNK to send it to OT‼️@aggiembk ↗️ @celtics ➡️ @maineredclaws pic.twitter.com/CXv9yxqvXo
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) March 14, 2019
DeMarcus Cousins technically made a good pass here:
Boogie thought Steph was in the game 😂 pic.twitter.com/k8rb6xftIT
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 14, 2019
On this day: In 2000, Pedro Martinez began a spring training game against the Blue Jays by striking out Anthony Sanders looking, Homer Bush swinging, and David Segui looking. In the second and third, he retired the side in order, adding a strikeout in each inning. But given this was an ultimately meaningless game, he was removed to save his arm.
From there, five more Red Sox pitchers (Fernando De La Cruz, Dan Smith, Rheal Cormier, Rich Garces and Rod Beck) negotiated Toronto’s line without allowing a baserunner. Of course, given the low-key nature of spring training exhibition games, the weight of their achievement was somewhat lost on Boston pitchers.
“I didn’t find out about it until I turned around to shake the guys’ hands I looked up and saw it on the board,” Red Sox reliever Rod Beck recalled after closing out the ninth inning. His humorously muted reaction said it all.
“I saw ‘perfect game‘ and said, ‘Hey, pretty cool.'”
No officials records are kept of preseason games, so it’s impossible to be sure of exactly how rare this phenomenal was. That said, there is no other listed case of a perfect game ever occurring in spring training.
Daily highlight: Lionel Messi made multiple defenders jump before calmly passing the ball into the net as Barcelona advanced in the Champions League against Lyon.
https://twitter.com/brlive/status/1105947663999090689
Trivia answer: Troy Bell
