I'm not going to defend Tatum with respect to anything he's doing right now (that possession last night where he pounded the ball into the floor for 22 fucking seconds and then missed a shot, and then followed it up with a brick from deep about 2 seconds into the shot clock on the next possession made me truly insane), but this is something I've followed and talked about in the game threads for years.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have not been getting calls for contact at the rim that 90% of NBA players get. Tatum should have had an and one last night when he was grabbed going up for a shot. Instead, they called him for a charge. It was a huge moment in the game. He missed a dunk later on, in which he was clearly fouled, no call, led to a basket on the other end if I'm not mistaken.
If guys are going to play for years, and go to the hoop and continuously not get calls, eventually, they are going to start avoiding contact so they can make the shot. Kemba also gets way less whistles for the same shit that Kyrie goes to the line for routinely. I don't know what it is about the green uniforms, but the officiating of these guys is completely off on a lot of nights, compared to their opponents, especially all star players who usually get calls in this league.
Of course, we also have a coach that has apparently never seen a bad shot or a bad officiating call. If your coach doesn't work the refs, and the refs respond by not making calls in your favor, well, you have to change your game to something that doesn't involve getting calls.