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Jayson Tatum’s father Justin doubted whether the Celtics might make the playoffs early in the 2021-22 NBA season

Justin Quinn
·2 min read

If you were among the fans of the Boston Celtics who did not see them making it to the NBA Finals while the team slogged through the first half of the 2021-22 season as a .500 ball club, don’t be too hard on yourself — you were far from alone. In fact, even All-NBA Celtics forward Jayson Tatum‘s father Justin wasn’t sure they’d make the postseason, never mind the 2022 Finals.

Speaking with Bally Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson recently, the elder Tatum said “I didn’t think they were going to make the playoffs at the beginning of the season. Y’all are bad, y’all don’t share the ball, you don’t do a lot of this — and this was in November, December before they went on that run.”

“Who are we going to trade,” he asked rhetorically, transporting himself back in his mind to that frustrating moment for Celtics fans everywhere. “Who are we going to let go? We’ve got to figure out something.”

“Now, to see them beating the Brooklyn Nets, going through (the) Milwaukee (Bucks), the NBA Champions from last year, and then finishing off Jimmy Butler (of the Miami Heat), I did not expect it,” he continued.

“That’s what professionals are. The old guys on that team showed what professionals are supposed to be like. That’s what your job is. You’ve got to find a way not to be an inconsistent team, to be a winning team.”

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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