Heat react strongly to claims they put 'code red' on Jayson Tatum
Celtics fans held their collective breath when Jayson Tatum took a hard thud to the floor during Sunday's Game 1 win against the Heat. The incident occurred when Caleb Martin collided with Tatum while fighting for a rebound, causing the Celtics star to fly midair before landing on his back.
During the post-game show, Celtics announcer Brian Scalabrine suggested that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra might have ordered a "code red" — to intentionally injure Tatum — in the preceding timeout.
"I'm not trying to start nothing here, but Erik Spoelstra calls a timeout with 1:30, down by 16...and 30 seconds later, that play happens," Scalabrine said. "Why is he calling a timeout at 1:30 and why is that play happening 30 seconds later? That looked shady to me."
The next morning, Scalabrine stood by his "code red" accusation.
Scalabrine's wild theory caused quite a stir in the media. Spoelstra and Martin responded to the claims after Miami's practice session on Tuesday.
Spoelstra said the accusation was "not worth addressing" before he credited Miami and Boston for playing a quality brand of basketball over their recent years of playoff battles.
Martin had a rather interesting take, suggesting that if the roles were reversed, and he took the tumble, nobody would have accused Tatum of a dirty play.
The Celtics and Heat are engaged in their third consecutive battle in the NBA Playoffs. While the Celtics emerged 4-3 in 2022 en route to the NBA Finals, the Heat returned the favor last year.
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