HOUSTON — Jayson Tatum improved to 3-0 against his former coach Ime Udoka Friday after the Celtics blew out the Rockets 109-86 at the Toyota Center. The All-Star forward was not at his best in the performance (20 points, six rebounds) but was an integral part of a suffocating Boston defense in the second half that limited the Rockets to just 30 points.
After the victory, Tatum was asked to reflect upon the impact Udoka had upon his career and took the opportunity to speak candidly about his entire Boston tenure dating back to 2017.
“I would venture to say I’ve been very fortunate with the organization I’ve been with, with all the teammates that I’ve had, and I’ve had three of the best coaches I could have possibly had, especially at the time in my life,” Tatum said.
Tatum spent the first five years of his career under current president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. While Tatum spoke fondly of Stevens’ impacts, he admitted the younger version of himself butting heads at time with his ex-boss.
“Brad believing in a 19 year old kid and teaching me about the NBA and the ins and outs,” Tatum said. “At times I was frustrated with Brad and I wanted a bigger role or whatever, but I appreciate the relationship that me and Brad have and how he allowed me to grow through that process.”
Tatum went on to speak fondly about Udoka’s time with the organization in 2022-23 before he was suspended and ultimately fired for a violation of team workplace rules.
“Ime, that one year was special,” Tatum said. “First time I made first team All-NBA, went to the Finals, at that point it was the best season I had and he instilled something in the organization that was needed at the time.”
Asked to elaborate about what necessitated that change, Tatum was quite candid with his response.
“I think it was just a good time for a change,” Tatum said. “Brad had done an amazing job for 10 years or whatever it was. Sometimes you just need a different voice and a different style of coaching.
I think Ime, he’s big on toughness and physicality and taking on the challenge and going at people. And that’s what we did that year, right? We had a tough start. But him as our head coach, he never wavered and we turned out season around. We was hungry. And got to the Finals and came up short. We loved to have him around. He’s an amazing person, amazing coach.”
Udoka has left a similar imprint on his new team, turning the Rockets into one of the best defensive teams in the league two years after taking over the 29th ranked defense in the NBA. Meanwhile, Tatum remains happy with how things ended up in Boston ultimately after Udoka’s ugly exit.
“Joe [Mazzulla] with what he’s done with with this group and leading us to a championship,” Tatum reflected. “I’ve been very fortunate to have three of the best coaches, those are three of the best people that I could have had and helped me on my journey.”
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