Sir Charles in Charge's Michael Saenz believes that Brian Scalabrine's claim that Caleb Martin's hard foul on Jayson Tatum during the final minute of the Boston Celtics' blowout Game 1 victory over the Miami Heat was planned by Erik Spoelstra is "not fair."
"Then again, Scalabrine has never been known for being careful with his words," Saenz prefaced before saying, "He's been known as a bold analyst and, at times, has had similar types of bold claims too. Nevertheless, to claim that a team is willingly trying to hurt a player is not fair."
Saenz is right. Scal's claim probably isn't fair. Bill Simmons refuted the claim on the March 22 edition of The Bill Simmons Podcast, correctly pointing out that Jrue Holiday may have inadvertently caused the unfortunate, but ultimately non-serious, Tatum bump.
“I thought he got shoved from behind by Jrue Holiday, which everyone missed," Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast (h/t NBACentral). "I watched the replay; I think he was a little off balance and crashed into him."
Boston Celtics must be wary of Heat hard fouls for the rest of Eastern Conference Quarterfinals
Just because Martin probably didn't mean to hit Tatum in the air as he was grabbing a rebound doesn't mean the Cs can trust that there won't be dirty plays for the rest of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
"Heat Culture" has often come at the expense of opposing teams, and with Jimmy Butler out for the series, it's possible that there can be an edict from up top to make things as physical as possible. Potentially in a dirty way.
Following the Martin foul, several Cs, including Jaylen Brown, pressed Martin, but the Heat wing said "you're not like that" when No. 7 was in his face. If there's another similar play from Miami, Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Xavier Tillman, and anyone else who deems himself an enforcer, they need to be "like that."