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Tatum was benched twice in Group USA’s matchups towards Serbia in the course of the Olympics, and solely performed 11 minutes within the gold-medal recreation towards France.
A number of present and former NBA gamers criticized Kerr and Group USA for Tatum’s restricted function within the Olympics — together with Kendrick Perkins, Paul Pierce, and Bob Cousy.
On Wednesday, Jrue Vacation — Tatum’s teammate with each the Celtics and Group USA — was requested about how Tatum dealt with his restricted reps in the course of the Olympics.
“I feel everyone is aware of JT — he’s the last word skilled,” Vacation mentioned Wednesday throughout a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the new Elevating Cane’s location in Downtown Crossing. “He already is aware of what it’s and what the last word purpose is. I don’t suppose he wanted any encouragement. I feel it’s extra so like staying prepared each time it’s his time to be known as.”
Tatum, who solely scored 21 whole factors over 4 video games in the course of the Olympics, acknowledged after the gold-medal recreation that his newest stint with Group USA had its justifiable share of challenges.
“Lots of people textual content me and reached out and mentioned ‘Be certain that this fuels you,’ which I respect,” Tatum instructed reporters. “I feel the robust half is sure, you should utilize issues to gasoline you, however I’m nonetheless human. … I’ve sacrificed and put rather a lot into this recreation and work actually, actually arduous. So within the second it’s robust.”
Whereas Tatum struggled to carve out a major function with Group USA, each Vacation and one other Celtics teammate in Derrick White had been utilized as reliable defenders within the backcourt for Steve Kerr en route to a different gold medal.
“Enjoying with them is fairly snug,” Vacation mentioned of teaming up with Tatum and White in Paris. “We did it for some time, and we gained collectively, however to go over there and form of symbolize our nation collectively was actually cool.”
Vacation’s summer time in 2024 has mimicked his 2021 marketing campaign — with the veteran guard profitable an NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks earlier than taking dwelling gold with Group USA in Tokyo.
Although the defensive stalwart has not had a lot time to relaxation amid Boston’s prolonged playoff run and his participation within the Olympics, Vacation feels as if his time spent alongside different basketball greats in Paris was helpful — past simply taking dwelling some extra {hardware}.
“These are among the greatest gamers on this planet,” Vacation mentioned of his newest stint with Group USA. “It was enjoyable to go on the market and play. … An incredible expertise. Performed with some legends and towards some legends, and once more, introduced again some gold.”
Conor Ryan could be reached at [email protected].
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