Boston star Marcus Smart overheard in stinging teammate tirade after Miami loss

The Boston Celtics are reportedly “imploding” after a heated argument inside the locker room following their Game 2 collapse.

Marcus Smart stormed out.

Boston star Marcus Smart has been overheard spitting fury during a “screaming” tirade towards his teammates following their loss to Miami on Friday (AEST).

The Heat went ahead 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 106-101 comeback win that appeared to break the Celtics.

According to ESPN reporter Malika Andrews and The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn, Smart was the most vocal Celtics player during an argument inside their locker room, which could be heard by reporters nearby.

“Marcus Smart is screaming at someone in the Celtics locker room — or several people,” Andrews posted on Twitter.

“The yelling continues as Smart exits the locker room, swearing.”

Washburn posted on Twitter that the Celtics are imploding.

“Marcus Smart is screaming in the #Celtics locker room and there is a bunch of arguing going on,” he posted.

“Smart comes out (and) says, “Y’all on that bullshit!”. Team is imploding. Smart is in bathroom and there is still screaming coming from locker room.”

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Celtics coach Brad Stevens confirmed his players had a heated exchange in the locker room during his post game press conference.

Marcus Smart is playing for keeps.

“Guys were emotional after a hard game, hard loss,” he said.

Andrews told ESPN of the altercation she could hear from nearby the Celtics dressing room: “All of a sudden we could hear loud yelling. A clanking, almost like a chair or something incredibly heavy being thrown up against a wall. We were 25-feet away and the door was closed for all of this. Then for probably a minute or a minute and a half later, Marcus Smart walked out of the locker room turned the corner and walked into the rest room. He was still yelling and swearing as he walked into the rest room.

“When he was out of the room there was still yelling going on in the locker room.”

She reported the Celtics have agreed to meet as teammates on Saturday (AEST) to address the incident.

The Celtics led by 17 points in the second quarter and carried a 13-point lead into the second half.

They were blown off the court 37-17 in the third quarter and they still haven’t recovered.

Bam Adebayo scored 15 of his 21 points in the Heat’s blistering third quarter. The Celtics, who let a big lead slip in a 117-114 game one over-time defeat on Wednesday, regained the lead in the fourth quarter and were up 94-89 with 4.25 left to play.

But the Heat chipped away with a hook shot from Adebayo and a steal and dunk by Jimmy Butler.

Goran Dragic followed up two free throws with a three-pointer over Boston big man Daniel Theis that put the Heat ahead 100-95 with 1.42 remaining and Miami powered to the finish line.

Dragic finished with 25 points, and Duncan Robinson added 18, all on three-pointers.

Adebayo added 10 rebounds and four assists, Jimmy Butler had 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“We like to make it hard for ourselves,” Butler said of the Miami “comeback kids”.

Jimmy Buckets.

In fact, the Heat got off to a brisk start making five of their first six three-point attempts.

After a close first quarter the Celtics surged ahead in the second period, only for the Heat to make the needed adjustments at halftime.

“You get to the conference finals, it’s not all about you,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Boston had a lot to say about how that first half was going. That was them putting us on our heels.” Kemba Walker broke out of his scoring slump with 23 points for the Celtics. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum scored 21 apiece.

But Brown missed a three-pointer that would have tied it with 15.1 seconds to play and 20 Celtics turnovers led to 26 Miami points.

The Heat will try to take a stranglehold on the best-of-seven series in game three on Saturday in the NBA’s quarantine bubble in Orlando.

The Celtics will go into that one knowing that no NBA team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a series.

— with AFP

Originally published as Boston star Marcus Smart overheard in stinging teammate tirade after Miami loss