As Tatum’s struggle mount, is Kerr vindicated for Olympic benching?

Paging Celtics fans, paging Celtics fans!

Your Honor, esteemed jury, let the record show: Coach Steve Kerr stands not as a saboteur of Team USA, but as a prophet with a clipboard.

This is not about bias. It’s not about petty rivalries. This is about basketball judgment — the kind you earn through four NBA championships, a gold medal, and a résumé thicker than a Celtics media guide. Now I’m no big city slicker lawyer, rather a humble representative of the Golden Empire. And the charges brought against my client Coach Kerr for benching Boston Celtics’ star and reigning champion Jayson Tatum are being proven to be absolutely, unequivocally false.

If the jumper’s gonna brick, Tatum must sit!

EXHIBIT A: THE SCENE OF THE COLLAPSE

As we speak, the mighty Boston Celtics trail the Knicks 0-2 in a series they were expected to shine through. Keep in mind that their best player, the Jayson Tatum, one of the premiere players of this generation, had dominated the Knicks during the regular season.

But let the record show that through the first two games of this series, Tatum has not been a factor.

• In fourth quarters of the series, Tatum is 1-for-12 FG and 0-for-7 from three — a -12 overall.
• Across both games, his stat lines read: 23 PTS on 7-of-23 shooting with 5 TOs and 13 PTS on 5-of-19 shooting with 3 TOs.

This is not a cold streak. This is a pattern.

As The Athletic reported, Boston is now facing an identity crisis — because their star players keep folding when it matters most. Tatum didn’t just miss shots. He made baffling decisions late in both games, including dribbling into triple teams and forcing off-balance threes over defenders like he was reenacting the 2022 Finals. Oh yeah, Kerr’s Dubs ripped the Celtics heart out as Tatum averaged 36% shooting from the field, leading to the 4th championship of the Stephen Curry era.

Which brings us to…

EXHIBIT B: THE PARIS FILES

In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Steve Kerr benched Tatum twice against Serbia and limited him to 11 minutes in the gold medal game. The outcry from Boston was biblical. Bob Cousy accused Kerr of global embarrassment. Tatum admitted it was “challenging” and “humbling.”

But Kerr? He shrugged and said:

“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson; it’s what I’ve seen from the other guys.”

Translation? The math didn’t work. And for all the pearl-clutching, Team USA won the gold medal.

FINAL ARGUMENT: VINDICATION IN REAL TIME

While Celtics fans booed Steve Kerr from the rafters like he had torched the parquet floor, he offered only a wry grin and a wave. Because he knew something they didn’t.

He saw the signs in 2022 when the Warriors made Tatum shoot 36% in the Finals. He saw it in Paris. We all see it now — as the Knicks turn Tatum’s fourth quarters into a horror film. Now those same Boston fans who booed Kerr may have just witnessed their last home game of the season, and may not even get a chance to boo anybody anymore this year. Who knows?

And now, jury, I leave you with this question:

Is Kerr guilty of disrespect — or guilty of telling the truth before the rest of the world could handle it?

We will adjourn this trial and eagerly await more evidence in Game 3.