"Y'all corny for that" - Austin Rivers blasts trolls for Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton DNP jabs
Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton were the only two players who received a DNP on Team USA's 110-84 win over Serbia on Sunday. Fans trolled Tatum and Haliburton for their "participation" in the game, but Austin Rivers came to their defense online.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rivers blasted fans who made fun of the two All-Stars for not playing any minutes for Team USA. He pointed out that despite what happened, Tatum and Haliburton will eventually contribute once their numbers are called.
"We got people on the internet clowning Tatum and Hali for getting no burn. Y'all corny for that!! Both these dudes were standing the whole game supporting their squad, and both will have an impact at some point or another in these games. They are what winners look like," Rivers tweeted.
Even if Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum did not play on Sunday, Team USA cruised to a win led by Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Durant had a near-perfect performance with 23 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field, including 5-for-5 from beyond the arc.
James finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, while Jrue Holiday added 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Steph Curry contributed 11 points, three rebounds and three assists in his Olympic debut.
It was a close game in the first quarter before Team USA started pulling away in the second quarter. They had a nine-point lead heading into the third quarter and never looked back.
Nikola Jokic had 20 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals for Serbia. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 14 points and six rebounds. It was their 3-point shooting that became their undoing, shooting just 9-for-37 in the game.
Steve Kerr explains his decision to not play Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr was asked about being unable to play Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton in Sunday's win over Serbia. Kerr explained that it was hard to play all 12 players in just 40 minutes of action available in the game.
"It's really hard in a 40-minute game to play more than 10 guys. With Kevin coming back, I just went to the combinations that I felt made the most sense. It seems crazy. I thought I was crazy when I looked at everything and determined these are the lineups I wanted to get to," Kerr said after the game. [H/T CBS Sports]
Tatum and Haliburton have plenty of opportunity to play in the Olympics with two more games in the group stage before a possible run at the gold in the knockout phase.