Team USA staged a thrilling comeback on Thursday to beat Serbia in the semifinals of the men's basketball tournament. This came after the team went undefeated in pool play and destroyed Brazil in the quarterfinals. Now they're one game away from America's fifth consecutive gold medal with LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, three of the best basketball players to ever live, leading the way.
And yet somehow the main basketball story that is getting coverage this week is Jayson Tatum's playing time. Draymond Green has called Kerr's decision a mistake. Kendrick Perkins blasted Kerr for making Tatum feel embarrassed. Even Tatum's mom wants answers. All Kerr can do is blame math.
Not to be outdone, The Boston Globe reached out to Bob Cousey. The 96-year-old Boston Celtics Hall of Famer doesn't understand what Kerr is thinking.
“Tatum is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this month. Any experts that I’ve read lately have chosen him in the top five, and sometimes No. 1 in the [expletive] world. Now Kerr is telling the world that he doesn’t agree. In a 40-minute game, if you can’t find five minutes to play somebody on the team without hurting yourself …
“When Kerr did it last week, he was in no danger of losing the game, but in this case they got down by 17 points and he’s got to worry about losing the game. And then to not let Tatum get off the bench — to me, there’s got to be some kind of bias that he’s got against the Celtics. He’s not alone there."
The main problem with Cousey's argument here is that Kerr is actually starting one of the Celtics in Jrue Holiday and he has another coming off the bench in Derrick White. If Steve Kerr had a bias against the Celtics—the team he and Stephen Curry beat in the 2022 NBA Finals—he probably wouldn't have three of them on the team.
Cousey is also worried about what this will do to Tatum, calling Kerr's decisions more than "just a snub," an "embarrassment for that poor kid all over the [expletive] world," and that "everyone's going to think that there's something wrong with this kid." In Cousey's own words, "Somebody from Boston should stand up for this kid."
Luckily, Cousey, one of the most decorated and experienced Celtics homers alive, is the perfect person for the job.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bob Cousy Harshly Criticizes Team USA Coach Steve Kerr for Olympic Usage of Jayson Tatum.
