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.
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.
