After NBC Sports Boston’s Brian Scalabrine questioned whether Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra had ordered the “code red” when Caleb Martin hit Jayson Tatum with a questionable foul late in the Celtics’ Game 1 victory over Miami in the Eastern Conference Playoffs on Sunday, the 32-year-old movie reference took on a life of its own.
As Scalabrine sparred with members of the Miami media over his accusation, both the Celtics and Heat did their best to downplay the controversy in the days leading up to Game 2. Come game day, however, the Heat couldn’t help themselves from taking advantage of the free bulletin board material, with Meadowlark Media’s Amin Elhassan reporting that Miami players got ready for Wednesday night’s game by watching the famous movie scene that Scalabrine had referenced.
“I don’t know if I’m breaking news here, but allegedly, in the Heat locker room before the game, they played the speech several times from A Few Good Men,” Elhassan revealed on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Thursday. “And then during the game, as Caleb was making these big plays, certain individuals from the bench were yelling out, ‘Code Red! They ordered a Code Red!'”
While one could certainly argue how legitimate the Heat’s gripe with Scalabrine is, what isn’t up for dispute is that the motivation was effective. Even without star Jimmy Butler in its lineup, Miami handed Boston a sound 111-101 defeat, evening the best-of-seven series at one game apiece heading back to South Beach for Games 3 and 4.
As it turns out, the “Code Red” comments weren’t just reserved for before and during the game, but also after it, with Yahoo’s Ben Rohrbach reporting that references A Few Good Men could be heard inside the Heat’s locker room.
“We code red,” one player could be heard shouting from the locker room, Rohrbach wrote. “We code-redding s***.”
With the series now tied at 1-1, it will be interesting to see how much Scalabrine’s comment continues to serve as motivation for Miami moving forward. And if you think the Heat’s reaction to the comment on Wednesday was over the top, just imagine how bad it would have been had Jaylen Brown not left Scalabrine on an island.
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.