MIAMI – Because it’s Miami Heat-Boston Celtics, the fact that push again came to shove Saturday night hardly came as a surprise.
And while it hardly was to the same degree as the Caleb Martin-Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown “Code Red” dustup in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference opening-round playoff series, it nonetheless served as a reminder of the rivalry.
This time the moment of truth came with 10 seconds left in the third quarter of what turned into Saturday night’s 104-84 Heat loss at Kaseya Center that now has Boston up 2-1 in the best-of-seven matchup that continues Monday at 7:30 p.m. back on the Heat’s court.
With his team down 25 at that moment, Heat guard Tyler Herro did not take kindly to being shoved to the court by Celtics guard Sam Hauser. Herro immediately rose to confront the Celtics and was called for a technical foul, with Martin, as is his wont, also stepping into the scrum.
To Herro, it simply was time to take a stand.
“They’re doing a lot of different things off the ball, just holding me, holding my jersey, doing a bunch of stuff,” said Herro, who went from 24 points and 14 assists in the Heat’s Wednesday night Game 2 victory at TD Garden to 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting and two assists in Saturday night’s home loss. “But at the end of day, it’s competition.”
Herro considered it a moment of growth.
“It’s going to make me better,” he said. “It’s going to make my team better. I’m here for it. I’m excited. We’re here. Let’s go.”
In the wake of Martin’s hard foul late in the Heat’s Game 1 loss, Celtics television analyst Brian Scalabrine, in his typical over-the-top playful style, compared Martin’s foul to a “Code Red” in the movie A Few Good Men, as if a disciplinary action ordered by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
This time, former Heat guard Eddie House, who also provides analysis on the Celtics’ broadcasts, chimed in.
House said during the Celtics’ postgame show that Hauser getting physical and then Celtics teammate Payton Pritchard getting involved was a statement moment.
“We were more physical, we were more aggressive. Sometimes you’ve got to bully the bully, and I felt like we did that at times,” House said on NBC Sports Boston, “They still were handsy and got away with things, but I liked the scrum . . . the energy in the building when Tyler Herro threw the ball to Sam Hauser.
“I wasn’t mad at what Sam did. I know it wasn’t intentional, but it was just one of those physical plays, and then Payton getting in Tyler Herro’s face and then that lingering on. I like stuff like that because it’s showing us, ‘We’re not backing down. We’re not going back down from you.’ ”
What House noticed is what Spoelstra noted in his postgame analysis.
“They set the tone with their disposition,” said Spoelstra, who brought his time on Sunday for video study. “They were the more physical team. They bodied us, bullied us on screens, got through stuff, distorted screens, everything, flattened us out.
“So you have to credit them for that. They were the more physical team, the team with more physicality and force on both ends of the court.”
To the Celtics, at least for another night, it was mission accomplished.
“Everybody knows how talented we are. But can we be the tougher, harder-playing team?” Tatum said. “If we can combine that with the talent, it’s going to be hard to beat us. Can we start off every game, essentially, punching first instead of reacting? That’s a test we have to be up for every single night.
“It was just more about our attention to detail on both ends of the floor, mainly on the defensive end. Just start the game and not let them be comfortable – regardless if they hit shots – just try to make them work for everything that they get.”
Ultimately, a comeuppance for the Heat.
“I don’t think we really brought that dog like we did in Game 2, where it was set the tone from the jump,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. We didn’t do that tonight. So you know, obviously, when you don’t have that type of dog mentality, you can get blown out by 20.”