What Jayson Tatum said after he was unable to defend his Skills Challenge title
“I didn’t get no practice in before. I should (have) practiced.”
Jayson Tatum summed up his attempt to defend his Skills Challenge title perfectly.
“That was quick,” Tatum joked to Celtics.com after he was eliminated in the first round by Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis.
The Skills Challenge, which was the first of three events featured Saturday in Chicago as part of the NBA’s All-Star weekend, has two players going head-to-head with dribbling, passing, and shooting drills.
Tatum and Sabonis were side by side until the closing 3-point shot. Sabonis missed his first 3-point attempt, Tatum followed with a shot that grazed off the front rim, and Sabonis drained his second 3-point attempt to secure the win before Tatum took his second shot.
Khris Middleton and Domantas Sabonis advance to the #TacoBellSkills challenge Semifinals! #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/XPguHib857
— NBA (@NBA) February 16, 2020
After winning the competition in Charlotte last February, Tatum clarified what went wrong this time around.
“I didn’t get no practice in before. I should (have) practiced,” he said. “They let you practice like 30 minutes before they open the doors or something. I got busy taking pictures and other stuff.”
“I should (have) shot the second 3 quicker. I thought he was gonna miss, but he made it.”
Sabonis ended up losing in the final round to Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo. Tatum told Celtics.com he’s going to take time off from the Skills Challenge but may be open to another contest.
“I wanna do that one day,” he said about the 3-point shootout.
On Sunday, Tatum will take center stage again as he partakes in his first career NBA All-Star game on Team LeBron.
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