Robinson, Brown incident adds to heated Heat-Celtics history: ‘That rivalry still stands’
For those wondering, the rivalry between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics is alive and well.
That shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the Heat and Celtics have faced off in the Eastern Conference finals in three of the past four seasons. The core of both teams has remained relatively intact throughout that stretch.
But in case a reminder was needed, one was provided in February in the 53rd game of the season for both teams when the Celtics defeated the short-handed Heat 110-106 on Sunday afternoon at Kaseya Center.
“It was just competitive basketball being played out there,” Celtics star Jayson Tatum said.
Despite entering without star Jimmy Butler because of a death in his family and then losing guards Josh Richardson and Terry Rozier to injuries during Sunday’s loss, the Heat managed to remain within striking distance to make it a one-possession game in the final minutes against the team with the NBA’s best record. But after pulling within two points with 1:49 to play, the Celtics scored the next four points to push their lead back up to six with 14.6 seconds remaining and seal the win.
“I thought our group showed a tremendous amount of grit in that second half,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said ahead of a two-game trip that begins Tuesday against another rival in the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “There were a lot of things that weren’t necessarily going our way, including the injuries and then down 10. To really claw and fight back and get this game on the ropes, I think it was a credit to how hard our guys were playing.”
But the history and animosity between the teams made an appearance with just eight minutes left in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game in Miami.
With Heat forward Duncan Robinson defending Celtics forward Jaylen Brown as they fought for position near the edge of the three-point line, Brown attempted to catch an entry pass from Celtics guard Derrick White.
Robinson was called for a defensive foul on the play after the two got tangled up as Brown worked to gain position on a post-up.
Once the foul was called, Brown pulled his arm through Robinson’s arm forcefully in an apparent attempt to separate himself from Robinson. But, in the process, Brown yanked Robinson’s arm and tossed him into the courtside seats.
Brown was called for a Flagrant 1 foul by the officials “for the action to the arm of Robinson after the whistle.” And as a result, Robinson was listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Bucks with a left shoulder/elbow sprain.
“I just thought it was a dirty play, to be honest with you,” Robinson said after the game. “That’s how people miss entire seasons. Knock on wood, obviously. But those types of plays, you’ve seen them before throughout the history of the NBA. Guys suffer really bad injuries from instances exactly like that. So I just thought it was dangerous, unnecessary and excessive.”
Brown didn’t see an issue with what he did, instead blaming Robinson for the incident. Both players are represented by agent Jason Glushon.
“There was no issue for me,” said Brown. “I think he knew exactly what he was trying to do. Trying to get tangled up, etc., because he didn’t want to play defense. They called a foul, but he was still trying to hang on. So I was trying to get my arm free.”
It didn’t end there, though, as Robinson and Brown exchanged words near the foul line before Robinson shot two free throws following the flagrant foul. The two needed to be separated by teammates and the officials.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla called the verbal altercation by the free-throw line “tremendous,” noting that the Celtics “need to have a certain level of friction in moments.”
“Miami is known for being physical,” Brown continued. “Miami is known for getting away with a lot of that stuff, trying to muck up the game. At the end of the day, you got to protect and own your space. I feel like Duncan Robinson knew what he was doing there, trying to get tangled up and trying to draw whatever he was trying to do. But I bet he won’t do it again.”
Heat center Bam Adebayo, who has developed a friendship with Brown through the years and is also close to Tatum, said after the game that he stood by his teammate.
“I feel like I agree with Duncan,” Adebayo said. “He felt like it was a dirty play. I’m not going against my teammate. That’s what it is. I stand behind my teammates 100 percent.”
What’s that balance like for Adebayo, who knows Brown off the court but has been Robinson’s teammate since 2018?
“Listen, if you’re in a Miami Heat jersey and I’m on your team, I don’t give a [expletive] what’s happening,” a passionate Adebayo said. “If action happens, we’re with the action. No questions asked, there’s no second guessing, I’m with it. Obviously, some dudes are my homies on the other team. But in between them lines, they don’t care about us and we don’t care about you. I don’t talk to you before the game, I don’t look at you. After that buzzer goes off and we can’t do anything else that affects the game, it might be a what’s up.
“But other than that, nah, that rivalry still stands. They remember what we did to them in Game 7 on their home court. So for us, man, it’s a dog eat dog world. I’m riding with my team.”
Adebayo is referring to the Heat’s Game 7 win over the Celtics in Boston in last season’s East finals. With that victory, the Heat became the just the second No. 8 playoff seed in league history to advance to the NBA Finals.
But Sunday’s win clinched the Celtics’ 3-0 sweep of the regular-season series against the Heat this season, marking Boston’s first regular-season sweep of Miami since the 2016-17 campaign. And while the Heat finds itself in play-in tournament territory for the second straight season in eighth place in the East at 28-25, the Celtics stand in first place in the conference at 41-12.
Regardless of where they are in the standings, though, the rivalry between the Heat and Celtics continues. While they won’t face each other again in the regular season, a playoff matchup for the fourth time in five seasons remains a possibility.
“We say it all the time, new players come in and you’re inheriting this feeling that we have for them and they probably feel a certain way about us,” Spoelstra said when asked about the Heat’s rivalry with the Celtics. “You would never just want to go through an entire career and not have that. So I know our guys embrace that. It’s good for competition, it’s good for the league and it’s good for the players. And our guys love that. We just ended up on the wrong side of the score tonight.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2024 at 9:50 AM.
