The Boston Celtics handed the Golden State Warriors an embarrassing 125-85 home defeat on national television Monday night to provide a tidy little picture of the difference between these two teams headed in opposite directions. Because it has always been zero days since drama at NBA headquarters, a lot of people took notice of an awkward interaction—technically non-interaction—between Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Celtics star Jayson Tatum after the game.
Kerr came over and lingered around while Tatum and Stephen Curry had a lengthy conversation, eventually walking away without getting Tatum’s attention. It’s a move anyone who has been at a cocktail party before has employed and hopes no one noticed.
📹 Great awkward Steve Kerr moment at the end of the game pic.twitter.com/xYp6xRvL0j
— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) January 21, 2025
Perception is in the eye of the beholder. Tatum could have been trying to send a message and icing Kerr out. Or he literally could not have seen him. Their relationship has been a real question mark after Tatum was benched twice during Team USA’s gold medal run at the Paris Olympics. Which is sort of a bummer because a key element of that sentence is that they won a gold medal representing their country together. And there’s a real possibility that they would have taken home silver had Kerr given more than 11 minutes in the title game to Tatum.
Anyway, this is all catnip. It may very well just have been a meaningless, slightly awkward moment. There was a time in the NBA when players and coaches didn’t mill around and try to book their next podcast home-and-homes with their opponents so situations like this didn’t happen. Not saying it was better. Just saying it was different.
