While it is not out of the ordinary to see Boston Celtics point guard Derrick White getting animated over something happening on the court, the Colorado native has never gotten a technical foul in an NBA game until this season. And that lack of techs had him the butt of some good-natured ribbing from teammate (and serial technical foul getter) Jayson Tatum in the past.
But now, after the genteel White has been assessed his first official technical foul of his NBA career, Tatum is evidently happy with his teammate. Picked up a little before the 8:30 mark of the third quarter of Boston’s 119-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons, Tatum evidently reacted approvingly when White was assessed the technical foul, according to the the University of Colorado – Boulder alum on a recent episode of his “White Noise” podcast. “It’s a big moment,” said White, sharing that he could see how proud Taco Jay was at the time.
“You can definitely see in the moment as soon as he gave me the (technical foul), JT was stood up,” he continued. “I could argue here as soon as he gave me the (tech).”
“(Tatum) just stands up, clapping,” White added. “I wasn’t even really trying to get a technical on that one. I just strongly disagreed with that call — it was like a physical game, so emotions were high … I had some choice words in there, but I wasn’t trying to get a technical.
“And … I didn’t think I fouled him, especially, (considering) the game, how it was going right there … The last thing I said was, that’s effing horrible. So that is my first one — hopefully I don’t get too many, just check a box. Now I’ve got to focus on more important stuff, like helping us get some more wins.”
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