BOSTON – When the Boston Celtics lost Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat in the 2020 Bubble, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown had to be separated in the locker room. Tensions were high, blood was boiling, and the competitive fire that echoes through each of them spilled over into real-world confrontation.
When Smart called out Jayson Tatum and Brown on November 1, 2021, after a loss to the Chicago Bulls brought Boston’s record to 2-5, Tatum was shocked. “It caught me off guard for sure,” Tatum revealed months later.