Caleb Martin accused of dirty play on Jayson Tatum

Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin was accused of committing a dirty play during his team’s game against the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

The Celtics defeated the Heat 114-94 in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series between the two teams at TD Garden in Boston, Mass. Bam Adebayo missed a shot with Miami trailing 110-94 late in the fourth quarter, and Martin crashed toward the hoop in pursuit of the rebound. Martin ran directly into Jayson Tatum in the process.

Tatum fell hard to the ground, and Martin immediately reached his hand out to try to help the Celtics star up. Jaylen Brown was not having that and pushed Martin away, which led to some words being exchanged.

bghfc pic.twitter.com/agOEoiaTJK

— Crystal Scar (@crystalscarr21) April 21, 2024

You can see another angle:

Caleb Martin knew what he was doing… https://t.co/vg0ujTq4QT

— 𝙍𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙮 ☘️ (@CelticsRiley) April 21, 2024

Fortunately, Tatum was not injured. Martin and Brown received matching technicals for jawing at one another following the play.

Some felt that Martin intentionally undercut Tatum, which is always a dangerous play. Martin appeared to be looking up toward the hoop as he came sprinting in, however, so he may not have realized he was about to slam into Tatum.

The Celtics are fortunate that Tatum was not hurt on the play. Head coach Joe Mazzulla took a big risk by leaving his best player in with a minute left in a blowout, so an injury surely would have invited criticism.