Veteran big man Udonis Haslem is highly regarded as the OG of the Miami Heat, and he proved why once again on Friday.
In an appearance on WQAM’s “The Joe Rose Show,” Haslem spoke on former Heat teammate Ray Allen’s feud with his ex-teammates on the Boston Celtics.
“It’s not like the year before with Ray they beat us,” said the three-time NBA champion, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Put it this way, it wasn’t the similar situation to maybe Kevin Durant going to the team that beat him. It was, you got your a– whooped with Ray, and we got Ray and we whooped your a– again.”
“I mean, they got to let that go,” continued Haslem. “I think when you get to a point where you’re a free agent, you have the opportunity to make the best decision for you. Quality of life: Boston, Miami? Ahh, you guys can figure that one out … I mean, and I understand, because at that time it was somewhat of a rivalry between us and Boston. But even when they had Ray we beat ’em. So it wasn’t like Ray came and helped us get over the edge.”
Allen’s frosty relationship with his former Boston teammates was in the news again this week when several of them appeared on Kevin Garnett’s “Area 21” show and re-expressed their bitterness over Allen’s departure. It also recently came out that Allen would not be invited to the 10-year anniversary celebration of the Celtics’ 2008 championship.
Of course, the bad blood stems from Allen leaving Boston in free agency to join the Heat, their most bitter rival at the time, and winning another title with them in 2013. But as Haslem noted, Miami eliminated the Celtics with Allen in the playoffs the previous two years in a row, also winning the title in 2012. And it’s definitely hard to counter the ol’ “kiss the rings” argument.
