That call against Tatum at the end of the game nearly cost the Celtics the game.
It did. But it was also the correct call. Tatum made contact.
NBA is going to have to come up with something else as right now the defenders are going to be incentivized to play defense with their head as that call consistently gets made on the man with the ball.
Not exactly what you have in mind when trying to protect players heads.
It's a tough situation, but I don't think there's THAT much incentive to get hit in the head with an elbow. Faking it, like Marcus did a lot last year, yeah, but not actually getting clocked.
Problem is going the opposite way and entitling the man with the ball to swing his elbows through "his space" would encourage a lot of headhunting of aggressive defenders. Doesn't seem like a viable option either.
Agree that distaste for the call should be directed at the rulebook and not the ref.