Last night, when Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas fouled out of the team’s play-in game against the Golden State Warriors, former Spartan Xavier Tillman was called upon to close out a tough game that went into overtime, and he delivered.
This was easily the biggest stage Tillman has been on as an NBA player, and the player who many felt was snubbed in the draft and taken in the second round showed out in a big way and helped lead his team to a 117-112 victory.
After the game, his longtime friend, fellow Spartan and former teammate Jaren Jackson Jr. shared a powerful moment with Xavier Tillman following the biggest night of his career thus far.
Spartan Dawgs 😂@jarenjacksonjr | @Rookiedunker pic.twitter.com/Pxe64nHtNv
— 🙅♂️- Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) May 22, 2021
Jackson also went on:
Jaren Jackson Jr. on Xavier Tillman Sr.: “Since we were 15 or 16 we were talking about this.”
— Drew Hill (@DrewHill_DM) May 22, 2021
He had started off the interview gushing about his friend:
Grayson Allen said the Grizzlies embraced the underdog mentality and it brought out more fight out of them
Jaren Jackson Jr. showed up fired up on Zoom.
"You see that man, he’s so inspirational. He’s a warrior” – JJJ on his longtime friend Xavier Tillman showing up big today— Evan Barnes〽️ (@evan_b) May 22, 2021
Man, did someone chop some onions in here?
