Former Celtics player and current TV analyst Brian Scalabrine thought there was something suspicious about Caleb Martin’s hard foul on Jayson Tatum late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game.
After seeing how hard the Boston star hit the floor, Scal had a feeling that Martin’s collision was intentional and said as much on NBCS’ “Celtics Postgame Live.”
I’m to not trying to start nothing here but I’m just — Erik Spoelstra called a timeout with a 1:30 left down by 16, 30 seconds later that play happens. I don’t know man, that looked shady to me. … I didn’t like that.
Scalabrine went on to say that he believes Miami’s small forward should receive a suspension from the league for his actions.
I mean that to me is a dirty play. Like, I think Martin should get suspended for that. That’s a dirty play. You can’t do that. … The NBA is about the star players. The idea of winning a championship is that your star players have to stay healthy. And a guy goes up and you just ram into him? That ain’t basketball.
“Erik Spoelstra called a timeout with a 1:30 left down by 16, 30 seconds later that play happens… that looked shady to me.”
Brian Scalabrine reacts to Caleb Martin’s foul on Jayson Tatum pic.twitter.com/XRchYpbOVh
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 21, 2024
Tatum had his legs taken out from under him while going up for a rebound in the final minutes of the game. In Martin’s defense, it looked like he got a little push from Celtics guard Jrue Holiday on his way towards the play.
However, it still doesn’t look he was making much of a play on the ball.
We’ll see how the NBA feels about the play but clearly we know where the C’s stand on the matter.