Jayson Tatum’s comments about not feeling appreciated has been a hot topic in the NBA.

Celtics champion Paul Pierce agreed with Tatum, and added why he thinks the 26-year-old is underappreciated.

“He plays for Boston. It’s just what it is,” Pierce said on “KG Certified.” “Even Larry Bird was underappreciated because at one point, he was the best player in the league even though it was always Magic (getting the attention).

“Boston is the most hated franchise,” he continued. “Most hated team in all of sports, in all of basketball for sure.”

Pierce also added that Tatum isn’t one to bring attention to himself and keeps quiet a lot of the time. It’s something Kevin Garnett doesn’t want Tatum to change about himself.

“JT, stay how you are, bro,” Garnett said. “The real ones respect you and we see it and what you’re doing is classic. I hope all the young boys take a page out of your book and be a little more private.”

Tatum is a six-time All-Star, a four-time All-NBA selection and an NBA champion all before the age of 27. He doesn’t have an MVP to his name yet, but he predicted that would come next during the 2024-25 season.

He also is one of the top players in the NBA whether he feels appreciated for his accomplishments or not. He continues to put up impressive numbers, be a leader for the Celtics and has a chance to be a repeat champion this summer.

BOSTON — Less than five minutes had passed in Friday night’s final regular-season showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers and Celtics, and the game already felt over.

Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson had burned his second timeout, the Celtics had made seven 3-pointers, and Boston led 25-3, appearing well on its way to a massive statement win.

“We got punched in the mouth,” Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell said. “What are we going to do about it? How are we going to respond?”

As it turned out, the Cavaliers responded rather splendidly. And it was thanks in large part to Mitchell, the six-time All-Star who finished with 41 points and five assists in 35 minutes in a 123-116 Cavaliers victory at a sold-out and stunned TD Garden.

“I think they trust each other,” Atkinson said. “They trust the message, and they trust each other.”

Entering Friday, the Cavaliers hadn’t lost since falling to these same Celtics on Feb. 4 in Cleveland, a game that came less than 48 hours before the trade deadline. In response to Boston largely controlling that 112-105 victory, the Cavaliers went out and acquired De’Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks for Caris LeVert and Georges Niang.

The move was designed to give Cleveland another big wing to throw at the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But by the time Hunter entered Friday’s game, at the 7:11 mark of the first quarter, it looked like his minutes might only come in mop-up duty.

That quickly changed as the first quarter played out. Cleveland cut its deficit to 12 by the end of the quarter. From there, it kept plugging away at Boston’s lead thanks to multiple sustained runs led by Mitchell and a hot shooting night across the board. The Cavaliers finished 17-for-39 from 3-point range, with eight players hitting at least one from deep.

“It means we got grit,” said Evan Mobley, who struggled for much of the game but finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, including 11 and 8, respectively, in the fourth quarter. “No matter how down we get, we’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep going all the way to the end of the game, and tonight we kept fighting and they let us back in the game a few times.”

The win erased any sliver of hope Boston (42-18) had of chasing down Cleveland (49-10) for the top seed in the East. The Cavaliers moved eight games up in the loss column with 23 to play and evened the season series at 2-2.

It also raised the specter of the Celtics’ repeated issue of letting teams back into games.

While Atkinson repeatedly pointed out that Boston was missing Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Jrue Holiday (finger), while Cleveland was fully healthy, the depth of the Cavaliers undoubtedly played a factor.

Cleveland used 10 players, with each seeing at least 12 minutes of action. Boston essentially played only seven, was outscored 33-6 in bench points (Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet were minus-36 and minus-26, respectively) and was extraordinarily reliant on Tatum (46 points on 19-for-37 shooting, 16 rebounds, 9 assists) and Brown (37 points on 13-for-24 shooting).

“That was one of the most incredible shotmaking performances I’ve seen,” Atkinson said of Tatum’s performance.

Added Tatum: “Just being aggressive in a good rhythm. I think obviously the start of the game on defense ignited our offense and how we were playing. We did a really good job of what we were trying to do, and the actions and the spacing and we were trying to attack. And guys on both ends tonight were making shots. I think in the second half, they made a run in that third quarter, getting some offensive rebounds. They took more shots than we did, so that just kind of gave them some life. And in the moments that we needed to get a stop, we didn’t, and that was tough.”

As a result, Cleveland came away with a victory that instilled further confidence in a young, ascendant team a week after it throttled another potential playoff foe, the New York Knicks, at home.

As both teams walked out of the Garden on Friday night, they already were thinking about what feels like a fated showdown in the Eastern Conference playoffs come late May.

“For sure,” Darius Garland said when asked if it was meaningful that the Cavaliers had evened the season series, and how they did so, Friday night. “It is 0-0. Hopefully, we’ll be back here in the summertime, and we’ll see it again for seven [more].”