{"id":444537,"date":"2025-03-23T19:16:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T20:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=444537"},"modified":"2025-03-23T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T22:13:10","slug":"aussie-champs-enlightened-by-nba-stars-pre-game-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=444537","title":{"rendered":"Aussie champs 'enlightened' by NBA star's pre-game message"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\ufefft was an emotional night for the Illawarra Hawks<\/a> on Sunday, winning their first NBL<\/a> title in 24 years after toppling Melbourne United in the game five decider.<\/p>\n

And perhaps the added boost the players needed came from Boston Celtics<\/a> superstar Jayson Tatum<\/a>, who offered his support to the Aussie team pre-game.<\/p>\n

Tatum's father Justin coaches the side and woke up to a video message from his son, which he opted to share with his squad before the do-or-die game.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ \ufeffMORE:<\/strong> Delly's classy act as Hawks end 24-year title drought<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Hird's reality check for star after 'unacceptable' snub<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Bunnies mascot accused of pushing child at match<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking to media in the midst of the championship celebrations, the 46-year-old explained the impact having one of the NBA's most iconic franchises in their corner. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I told my guys, I woke up this morning to a video," Tatum said.<\/p>\n

"He [Jayson] sent a video to my team and said 'pops, send this to your group'.<\/p>\n

"It was a reassurance to my group about what they should potentially feel and how to win a game seven for them, five for us.<\/p>\n

"He sent a support message to my group and I think that enlightened them a lot.<\/p>\n

"The whole 2023\/24 Boston Celtics are about to watch our game right now \u2026 if those guys can do it, we can do it.<\/p>\n

"Hearing from him and him having sent that message on his own was unbelievable. It was meaningful to my players as well."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tatum is one of the biggest stars in all of basketball, having led the Celtics to their first championship \ufeffin more than 15 years last season.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old also won a gold medal for USA at both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n

Justin took over as Hawks head coach in 2023 and has lifted them from the NBL cellar to a title in a short space of time. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\ufefft was an emotional night for the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday, winning their first NBL title in 24 years after toppling Melbourne United in the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":444539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=444537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444542,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444537\/revisions\/444542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/444539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=444537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=444537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=444537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}