Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla defended Jayson Tatum following his tussle with Onyeka Okongwu during the defeat to the Atlanta Hawks.

Tatum struggled as the Celtics were beaten 119-115 in overtime at TD Garden, shooting seven of 21 from the field and just two of nine from three-point range.

The power forward, who added 23 points, had been a doubt for the game with a left shoulder strain, and did not take many shots during the warm-up.

Tatum was then involved in a flash point during overtime when he grappled with Okongwu for the ball, with the two players having to be separated by team-mates.

The officials did not see any technicals, though, and Mazzulla believes it was simply a demonstration of Boston's fighting spirit.

"It's just competitive nature. It's a fight," Mazzulla said. "I think that stuff is important, and you need to show a level of spirit, and we did that.

"You've got to feed off of that. It's a representation of the Celtics and the mindset that we're trying to have. It was great."

"Honestly, I probably did that for you," Tatum told the media. "I thought you would probably like that, see me get angry. But it was fun, a little tussle. I think the fans enjoyed it; it got the crowd going.

"Give the refs credit, it should have been a tech. They didn't call it, they separated us, and we kept playing."

On the result, he added: "We were playing with pace; we had the right intentions. We had the right mindset. That's the tough part when you're doing things a certain way, and the results aren't matching."

Final pic.twitter.com/rdCiYuvATf

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 19, 2025