Apparently, Jayson Tatum found the questions about his toughness to be a little bit stale after the Celtics' 121-94 victory over the Magic on Friday night.
He was asked if the way Toronto's Scottie Barnes clapped in his face, or the comments Brandon Jennings made about him being the softest superstar in Celtics history made him want to play with more anger.
As soon as he heard the word "angry," Tatum closed his eyes and shook his head as if the notion were ridiculous. He tugged at one of his sleeves as he waited for the question to finish.
How did the shots at him from both current and former players make him feel?
"I don't know," Tatum said, shrugging his shoulders and throwing his hands slightly above the table he was sitting at. "I guess I'm a big deal."
Then, he walked away from the podium. It was already determined that question would be the last one of the night before it was asked. He didn't physically drop the microphone in front of him, but it certainly felt like a mic drop moment.
The even-keeled Celtics superstar admitted that the Celtics played below their standards and deserved to lose their matchup with Toronto earlier this week. Boston looked sluggish, uninspired, and overmatched by a lesser team in that game.
But, the Celtics looked much different in the win against Orlando. They pounced on the Magic from the beginning, playing the full game with a level of defensive intensity that has only been seen in spurts during the last few weeks.
Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis set the tone early inside, which opened up opportunities for the rest of the Celtics' sharpshooters.
Tatum seemed to glide as he sliced into the lane like a hot knife through butter. His 3-point shot was falling, and his footwork in the paint led to layups. He finished with a game-high 30 points, along with 6 rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals against one turnover.
He showed a combination of physicality and finesse with the way he screened Cole Anthony, rolled into a post-up, and sealed the smaller guard behind him as he caught a Jrue Holiday entry pass that led to a two-handed dunk. It was anything but a soft performance.
"It definitely felt good to hit some shots," Tatum said. "But I just liked how physical we were from the beginning. The starters haven't necessarily started the game as well as we would have liked recently but I think tonight we matched their intensity from the beginning and the guys that came off the bench did an excellent job of pushing it forward."
The intensity was there, along with a more balanced approach. Typically, the majority of the Celtics' shots are threes as they shoot just under 50 attempts per game. They shot 37 threes Friday night and made 17 of them. They shot 52.5 percent from the field and generated a number of easy looks.
"I think today from a rhythm perspective was actually a good game," Porzingis said. "We were not shooting a crazy amount of threes but we were shooting the right ones. Immediately our percentages were up and we were like both in and out."
"I think when we play like this, get downhill and create for each other, and then we get the threes, we have much more uplifting energy," he added. "When we come down and just shoot it, if we make 'OK good'. If we miss it can kind of drain you a little bit. So tonight I think we had a good balance of good balanced basketball and I think that's when we're the best."
The Celtics were at full strength Friday night, which has been pretty rare to see this season. For one night, at least, they appeared to snap out of the funk they've been in over the past few weeks.
"I think we're in a good spot," Tatum said. "We've had to play most of our season with different guys in the lineup and not everybody being healthy, so it's kind of like the start of the season right now just in a unique way having everybody healthy and trying to build off that."