It was a frustrating Thursday night in South Beach for the Boston Celtics, to say the least.
The Celtics had their win streak halted at four courtesy of a 115-99 loss to the Miami Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena. But aside from failing to capitalize on a hot start, Boston also dealt with some intrasquad drama.
During a timeout in the second quarter, a cell-phone video captured Marcus Morris shoving Jaylen Brown, prompting Marcus Smart to step in and separate the two. After the game, The Athletic’s Jared Weiss and NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg provided some clarity to the situation.
Context on this Mook-Jaylen thing: Mook was laying into Jaylen for not getting back on defense. We’ve seen the Marcuses get at Jaylen several times this year for messing up a defensive action, so the argument isn’t anything new. But the shove seems to be.
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) January 11, 2019
You can see 7:12 on the clock. This was during a second-quarter stoppage. At 8:01 you can see Morris get visibly upset after Brown is late getting back on defense. Seems tempers flared at the next stoppage. https://t.co/GIwKshTWJy
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) January 11, 2019
You can see the play Forsberg references here.
While the incident obviously looks less-than-ideal from an optics standpoint, president of basketball Danny Ainge is confident it just was a heat-of-battle moment between two highly competitive players. And considering Boston’s up-and-down season thus far, it makes sense why players might be a bit on edge.
The Celtics will try to get back in the win column Saturday night when they take on the Orlando Magic at Amway Center.
