Udonis Haslem may now be retired, but that is still not stopping him from going at the Boston Celtics.
Brian Scalabrine, a former Celtics player who now serves as a commentator for the team, made a big-time accusation against the Miami Heat and head coach Erik Spoelstra after Game 1 of the Celtics-Heat playoff series Sunday. Scalabrine took exception to a perceived dirty play by Miami’s Caleb Martin on Boston’s Jayson Tatum and accused Spoelstra of telling his team to injure Tatum. You can read Scalabrine’s full remarks here.
The retired ex-Heat big man Haslem was incensed about Scalabrine’s accusation and let him know about it on Monday.
“Shut yo sucka a– up,” wrote Haslem in an Instagram comment (profanity edited by LBS). “[Martin] got pushed. Brian weak a–.”
Indeed, the video of the play showed that many had missed a push by Celtics guard Jrue Holiday to the back of Martin on the play that ultimately led to the contact with Tatum. Even famed Celtics homer Bill Simmons cited the Holiday push as the cause of the whole thing and said that Martin did nothing dirty.
Bill Simmons on the Caleb Martin- Tatum play
— Heat Culture (@HeatCulture13) April 22, 2024
“I thought he got shoved from behind by Jrue Holiday”
“Guys don’t try to hurt eachother like that in b-ball”
“If they do it’s a repeated thing where they are known for it” 😴 pic.twitter.com/FDAPkIEcEf
As for Scalabrine, he was pretty far off-base with his accusation, especially against a very highly-respected longtime head coach in Spoelstra (and one who will be coaching Tatum as an assistant on the USA Basketball circuit this summer). Scalabrine has since walked back his controversial remarks, albeit not entirely.
As for Haslem, he had plenty of history with the Celtics during his playing career, including multiple heated playoff battles. Scalabrine now becomes the latest ex-Boston player that Haslem has targeted with sharp comments.
