Longtime Boston Celtics fanalyst Bill Simmons believes Jrue Holiday inadvertently caused the Caleb Martin bump on Jayson Tatum in the last minute -- which caused a nasty fall for No. 0 that he luckily immediately bounced back up from after hitting the floor -- of a 114-94 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals win over the Miami Heat on April 21.
“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."
Upon looking at the replay further, there's a case to be made that Simmons is right. Holiday does shove Martin, who was clearly ready to crash the glass, and that may have caused the Heat wing to lose his balance and barrel into an airborne Tatum.
Not everyone is sold on Martin, and on a larger scale, Miami's, innocence, though.
Boston Celtics commentator Brian Scalabrine convinced Caleb Martin foul on Jayson Tatum was orchestrated
Brian Scalabrine had his tinfoil hat on discussing the possibility that Erik Spoelstra orchestrated Martin's potentially dirty play coming out of a timeout.
"I'm not trying to start anything here, but Erik Spoelstra called a timeout with 1:30 down 16," Scalabrine said. "30 seconds later, the Martin undercutting Tatum on the rebound play happens. Why is he calling a timeout in that spot, and why is that play happening right after? That looked shady to me. I think Martin should get suspended for that."
Unfortunately, there's been numerous instances of Spoelstra's players being dirty while matched up against Boston. "Heat Culture" has a specifically negative connotation to Celtics fans, and Game 1's final-minute happening certainly didn't help sway that narrative.
How Game 2 is played should provide more context to whether or not Spoelstra is trying to take out Boston's best players to have a chance at upsetting the Cs in this Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series.