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Jayson Tatum Fired Up Dad Justin's Team Before They Won Australian Championship

Justin Tatum's Illawarra Hawks won Australia's NBL championship.

Blake Silverman

Illawarra Hawks head coach Tatum speaks to reporters after NBL Finals.
Illawarra Hawks head coach Tatum speaks to reporters after NBL Finals. / Screengrab via @NBL on X/Twitter
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The Tatum family is winning championships across the globe.

Justin Tatum, head coach of the NBL's Illawarra Hawks and father to Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, won the Australian league's grand final series. It was the Hawks' first title in 24 years and the second in franchise history.

After Jayson won his first NBA title last year, he had some advice for his dad's team and fired them up with a pregame video. Justin said that Jayson sent the video, which he saw as he woke up the day of the winner-take-all Game 5, for his players as reassurance on what they potentially should feel and how to close out a title.

"[Jayson] sent a support message to my group which I think enlightened them a lot," Justin said to reporters in a postgame press conference as he wore a championship hat and goggles to shield his eyes from champagne. "Like, the whole 2023-24 Boston Celtics are about to watch our game right now. And then those guys say, 'If they can do it, we can do it.' So, you know, hearing from him and him sending that message on his own was unbelievable and was meaningful to my players as well."

The NBA champions tuning in to watch the now-NBL champions provided some extra oomph to close out the series. Matthew Dellavedova, former NBA champion with the Cleveland Cavaliers and current Melbourne United guard, was named the series MVP. He selflessly gave up the award to Hawks guard Will ‘Davo’ Hickey, who he thought was the real MVP—a gesture that fans loved.

Justin even did his best Jayson impression with a "we did it" following the title-clinching game.

Even though he was on the other side of the world, the Celtics star provided some extra juice for his dad's team to win the series.

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Blake Silverman
BLAKE SILVERMAN

Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.

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