(Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat don’t like each other; that’s one of the worst-kept secrets in the league.
These teams go a long way back to the Paul Pierce and LeBron James days, and things have gotten chippy lately as well.
That’s why the fans weren’t so pleased to see Caleb Martin’s tough foul on Jayson Tatum, especially considering Game 1 was already out of reach.
Nonetheless, NBA analyst — and diehard Celtics fan — Bill Simmons believes there’s not much to read into with it.
Talking on his podcast, he argued that Martin’s foul may not have been intentional, as the replay showed that he was slightly shoved by Jrue Holiday, so he was off-balance when he hit Tatum from behind (via NBACentral).
Bill Simmons defends Caleb Martin’s foul on Jayson Tatum
“I thought he got shoved from behind by Jrue Holiday, which everyone missed. I watched the replay; I think he was a little off balance and crashed into him.”
(Via Bill Simmons podcast)
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 22, 2024
Notably, Tatum himself was unfazed by the hard foul.
He got up to knock down his free throws, and he thought it was just playoff basketball, telling the media that stuff like that is bound to happen in the postseason.
Whether the hard foul was intentional or not is not for us to judge, but it’s hard to believe that a seasoned veteran and respected coach like Erik Spoelstra would purposely tell one of his players to go out there and injure someone else.
Whatever the case, that definitely won’t be the last hard foul we see in this series.
The post Bill Simmons Defends Caleb Martin’s Controversial Foul On Jayson Tatum appeared first on The Cold Wire.