Jayson Tatum Opens up About Losing to Warriors in NBA Finals

Losing is never fun, but losing on the game's biggest stage is a feeling that Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum had never experienced before. After several years of deep playoff runs, Boston finally won the Eastern Conference again; however, they could not overcome Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. For Tatum, the loss left him feeling miserable.
"Those three, four days [after the Finals], I was miserable," Tatum told Bleacher Report's Taylor Rooks. "I really, really was. And it took some time to kind of get out of that funk and just kind of enjoy my life, enjoy being around my son and my family."
Tatum added that his laid-back persona may not allow people to understand how much he cares about winning, and the game of basketball in general.
"I was miserable"
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 21, 2022
Jayson Tatum opens up on the aftermath of losing the NBA Finals during live interview with Taylor Rooks in B/R app
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"I feel like sometimes I come off so laid-back that I don’t know if people understand how much I invest into this game, how much I care, how much I work, because I’m not the loudest, or may [not] show everything,” Tatum said. “But [losing] was just so tough because I literally gave everything that I had. And to feel like I ran out, that I didn’t have anything left to give, and we were so close."
While this loss will certainly sting for a while, Tatum and the Celtics have built a core that will be in the mix for several more seasons.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.
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