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Jayson Tatum Responds To Marcus Smart's Comments: 'I Know How To Play Basketball'

BOSTON (CBS) -- Jayson Tatum spoke to the media late Saturday night after the Celtics' loss. It was the first time he's met with the media since Marcus Smart called out Tatum and Jaylen Brown last week after a loss. Naturally, the young Celtics star was asked about Smart's comments.

Tatum didn't sound like he appreciated them very much.

"Personally, I mean, we talked about it -- individually and had a team meeting, I guess. But I know how to play basketball. I've been doing it a long time, and I'm pretty successful at it," Tatum said.

Part of Smart's comments involved the veteran guard saying his younger teammates needed to pass the basketball more often. Smart also declared, "I would just like to play basketball." Smart also stated that Brown and Tatum "don't want to pass the ball and that's something that they're going to learn."

Tatum expressed some level of disagreement with Smart's assessment.

"I've always made the right plays -- not perfect, I've got things I can work on," Tatum said. "I think that's the good part about that. You know, as young as I am, as good as people think I am, I got a lot to improve on, and I'll be the first one to say that. But I'm always gonna play the game the right way and the way that I was taught and the way that I've been playing my whole life. So that's never gonna change."

Tatum was asked if Smart's criticisms would have been better off coming in private rather than in public.

"I think, you asking that question, I think you know," Tatum said. "I think there are certain things that, obviously, as a group, that we would ... you know, there's certain things that I wouldn't come on here and tell you guys about our game plan, you know, specifically. But I think the moral of it is, it happened. And you can't change it. We're still a team, we're still trying to figure it out, we're still trying to win games."

Tatum's comments came after the Celtics lost 107-104 in Dallas. Smart committed an intentional foul late in the fourth quarter, a mistake which gave the Mavericks extra time to take their final shot while ensuring that the Celtics wouldn't get the ball back for a chance to respond.

Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said that he did not instruct Smart to intentionally commit that foul.

"There was no strategy; it was not supposed to be a foul," Udoka said after the loss. "A few of the guys asked me coming out of the timeout, I let 'em know, and just a mistake there. But that's on me, I've gotta let everybody know and make sure they know. Obviously a five, six-second differential, we want that last shot. So I've gotta communicate that to everybody so everybody knows."

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