Due to a player’s interaction with an official, the Atlanta Hawks will be shorthanded for Tuesday’s Game 5 against the Boston Celtics; nevertheless, their opponent is apparently exempt from punishment for the same infraction.
Guard Dejounte Murray was suspended by the NBA for one game on Monday for “making inappropriate contact with and verbally abusing a game official.”
NBA reporter Marc Stein said that although the league looked into Jayson Tatum of the Celtics for interacting with an official during Game 4, it did not find it to be a violation. As a result, he won’t receive a fine or suspension.
Tatum was heavily fouled in the third quarter and appeared to brush against an official before pushing himself away. He was walking away from the scene and had moved on to another heated discussion. It appeared that the league decided there was no malice.
Murray’s circumstances were more obvious.
He ran with referee Gediminas Petraitis as he was leaving the court after Game 4’s 129-121 defeat of his squad. Before teammates and coaches finally interfered and dragged him away, he kept yelling at the official:
With a final line of 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, Murray shot 9 of 20 from the field and 4 of 8 from three points. His team’s incapacity to protect its home court and capitalise on the momentum it created with its victory in Game 3 was obviously frustrating him.
With a win, Boston can set up a highly anticipated second-round matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers, who defeated the Brooklyn Nets in their first-round series. Boston currently leads the series 3-1. If Tatum had been suspended, it would have been much harder to secure that final victory in Game 5.
He is Boston’s preferred choice, and in the most recent triumph, he scored 31 points. Along with Jaylen Brown, who also had 31 points in Game 4, he forms one of the league’s top one-two punches. He has scored at least 25 points in each of the four games in this series.
It’s unlikely that Trae Young and his backcourt partner will play in Game 5, therefore the Hawks’ season may not last past Tuesday.
