The Celtics dominated the Heat in Game 1 at TD Garden, but the matchup ended with controversy that continued to stir up the rivalry between the sides.
In the final minute of Sunday’s game, Caleb Martin went after an offensive rebound and upended Jayson Tatum in a hard collision. The Boston star didn’t make a big deal about the foul, but Jaylen Brown went up to the Miami forward and called it a “dirty play” postgame. Former Celtics players went to Tatum’s defense, though Joe Mazzulla loved the play and wanted to see how his superstar would react.
Martin was a thorn in Boston’s side in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, but the dust-up at the end of Game 1 was an exception to the animosity between the teams, according to the 28-year-old.
“I mean anybody who knows me knows I don’t feel the need to try to take out guys in order beat somebody,” Martin told reporters Tuesday, per CLNS Media. “First thing I did was turn around and check if he was OK. If I was trying to take somebody out, I would have just walked away. That’s just not who I am. It’s the playoffs. Hard fouls happen all the time. If the roles were switched, I don’t think anybody would’ve called it a code red. It just happened, and if anybody watches it, I clearly got pushed into him.”
A replay of the hard foul does show Jrue Holiday give what appears to be a light push as Martin runs toward the basket. The fifth-year forward said he was going up for a putback dunk and the slight push changed his direction into Tatum.
It’s up for interpretation whether Martin intentionally tried to crash into Tatum and is using Holiday’s slight push as an excuse. But the Heat will come out swinging in Game 2 to ensure they don’t go down 0-2 when the best-of-seven series goes to Miami.
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