A take about JT forced KD to weigh in on the conversations surrounding the New York Knicks' ongoing series with the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks are one game away from a historic advancement but the Celtics extended their championship defense at least one day further with a 127-102 victory on Wednesday night in Beantown. Boston pulled that off without the services of franchise face Jayson Tatum, who is out for the series and season after enduring a devastating Achilles injury in Game 4 on Monday.
Boston's Tatum-free victory led Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker, to theorize that the defending champions may "match up better with the Knicks" without Tatum, who scored 42 points in the Monday loss. That drew the ire of current NBA star Kevin Durant, who felt Acho's take was a commentary on the state of modern sports analysis.
"Hot take artist[s] have ruined the sport," Durant said in an X reply to Acho's analysis. "Football guys, no disrespect but y'all boys need to stay In ya lanes, u don’t know what it’s like it between these lines man give it a break. Dudes who quit football early to pursue media talkin mental toughness, cut it out."
Acho, who played two NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles after an All-American career at Texas, based his take "exclusively because of mindset," claiming that a Tatum-led Boston team is "not as tough" and that Jaylen Brown is a more suitable leader for the green champions.
In Acho's defense, the Celtics have conducted themselves well when Tatum has been sidelined this season: after Wednesday's win, Boston is 9-2 amidst Tatum absences, albeit only 3-2 against playoff teams. They'll need at least two more, including one in front of what's sure to be an insatiable MSG crowd on Friday, to become the first repeat champions since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors.
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