Boston Celtics’ Marcus Smart (36) gestures at a Miami Heat player during the second half of an NBA conference final playoff basketball game, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Marcus Smart was furious after Boston fell to 0-2 against Miami in their Eastern Conference Finals matchup and his teammates reportedly bore the brunt of his anger.
The Celtics dropped Game 2 106-101 against the Heat and Smart reportedly shouted expletives at his teammates inside the locker room.
Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn tweeted that Smart shouted “y’all on that bulls**t!” at his teammates when he came out of the locker room.
During the team’s media availability, point guard Kemba Walker claimed that he did not know anything about incident while Jason Tatum downplayed what happened.
“I don’t know who said that,” Tatum said as per NBA.com. “We’re frustrated. But that’s team sports. You’re not supposed to be happy we’re down 0-2. Nothing going on there. Just talking about the game. It’s cool. Got to get ready for the next one.”
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens that the team was emotional after the game and that it was a “hard loss.”
The Celtics were up 60-47 after the first half but a disastrous third quarter, where the Heat outscored them 37-17, allowed Miami to take an 84-77 lead and ultimately turn the game over.
Jaylen Brown acknowledged the outburst, saying it was natural for them to have conflict especially in the high-stakes environment of the NBA Playoffs.
“At the end of the day emotions are going to fly. Obviously, we wanted to win this game and we didn’t. But the series is far from over. And we got to get ready for Game 3,” said Brown. “You, this how it goes. In families there’s up and downs, there’s fights and emotions. But that’s exactly what we are, a family. And you know, we’re going to hold each other accountable and we’ve got to do what it takes to come out and execute next game.”