Brian Scalabrine wound up on an island when he accused Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra of ordering the “code red.” That resulted in Caleb Martin fouling Jayson Tatum late in the fourth quarter of the Boston Celtics’ victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs on Sunday.
But the NBC Sports Boston analyst didn’t think he was going to be alone with that take. On Tuesday’s episode of his SiriusXM show, The Starting Lineup, which he co-hosts alongside Frank Isola, Scalabrine spoke to ESPN’s Jorge Sedano.
Sedano had publicly expressed disappointment in the former Celtics forward’s accusation a day earlier. As Scalabrine explained, he didn’t anticipate his take going viral. And he believes that it only did, in part, because Celtics star Jaylen Brown didn’t address the media following the game.
“The only thing I would say, where I ended up standing on an island by myself was it was covered poorly. I was nudging this thing along and I was supposed to be like one-fifth of the story, but Jaylen Brown did not talk after the game,” Scalabrine said. “[Celtics coach] Joe Mazzulla was asked about it and they ended the media session. And of course the Miami Heat media aren’t going to bring it up. All I need was one guy to co-sign with me. I got no co-signers. Which, by the way, I might end up with no co-signers in this whole thing.”
To Scalabrine’s point, he hasn’t found much support for his take. In addition to neither Brown nor Mazzulla commenting on it, even notorious Boston sports homer Bill Simmons expressed his belief that Martin’s foul wasn’t a dirty play. The NBA seemingly agrees, as the league declined to upgrade Martin’s foul upon further review.
As for the rest of Scalabrine and Isola’s conversation with Sedano, it was largely respectful — unless you happen to be a member of the Miami Heat beat, which caught multiple strays throughout the interview. All sides involved appear to have moved on from the Game 1 “controversy” and are now focused on the remainder of what most expect to be a non-competitive first-round series.
[SiriusXM]
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.