“Does anyone like this guy?”- Fans rip Kendrick Perkins encouraging Magic to re-injure Jayson Tatum

Kendrick Perkins has oddly encouraged the Orlando Magic to hurt Jayson Tatum. Tatum missed Game 2 against the Magic due to a wrist injury. JT bruised his bone on the right wrist after the Boston Celtics came up with a 103-86 victory over Orlando in Game 1.

Thankfully, Tatum wasn't out for long as he was available to play on Friday to try to extend the Celtics' series to 3-0. Despite having a huge 36-point scoring performance, the Magic managed to stop the wrath of JT and came up with a nail-biting 95-93 victory.

That said, NBA legend Kendrick Perkins wasn't satisfied with how the Orlando Magic performed. Speaking on ESPN, Perkins felt like the Magic lacked hustle, especially when defending Jayson Tatum. Big Perk then mentioned that if he were playing for Orlando, he'd take advantage of Tatum's wrist injury and try to swipe it at every opportunity.

Fans on social media couldn't believe Perkins' words, especially considering he was a former champion with the Boston Celtics in 2008.

Here's what some fans said on X, formerly Twitter:

"Does anyone like this guy"

"lmao no way this fat f**k actually said this. did he????"

Here are other fan reactions on X:

"Who gave this bum a job at ESPN," one questioned.

"of course a nobody is pushing to hurt a superstar😭," one tweeted.

"There's a reason why the Celtics didn't invite this n***a😭," another tweeted.

"Perkins gets more unlikeable everyday," one said.

Naturally, fans were infuriated with how someone of Perkins' stature could be on national television, calling for a player to be intentionally fouled.

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Jayson Tatum's 36-point performance falls short in Game 3

Despite Jayson Tatum's huge return in Game 3 for the Boston Celtics, the Orlando Magic beat the defending NBA champions by two points. After missing Game 2, Celtics fans were concerned about whether Tatum could perform at an elite level moving forward. Fortunately for Boston, JT appeared fine and put up his usual numbers on Friday.

Looking at Jayson Tatum's performance in Game 3, he nearly put up a double-double performance with 36 points, nine rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block. However, the duo of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero was too much for Tatum to handle alone.

Wagner added 32 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals. Meanwhile, Banchero put up 29 points, six rebounds and two steals. Thanks to the Magic duo, Orlando now has some hope of beating the defending champions early in the postseason.