A dust-up between Jaylen Brown and Duncan Robinson highlighted a chippy Sunday matchup between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.
Brown and Robinson got tangled up during a tense fourth quarter. Robinson played tight defense on Brown and held on for a second or two too long, leading to Brown tossing Robinson to the floor. The Celtics' All-Star was assessed a Flagrant 1 on the play.
Tempers flared between the two sides with Brown and Robinson jawing at one another and needing to be separated by teammates. You can watch the entire exchange in the video player above.
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Robinson was still miffed by the incident after the game. He called out Brown for what he considered to be a "dirty play."
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"We got locked up. Happens a lot over the course of the game," Robinson told reporters. "Tried to just have my hands up. Obviously, after the whistle, something went down that was unnecessary, and excessive, and dangerous.
"I just thought it was a dirty play, to be honest with you," he continued. "That's how people miss entire seasons. Knock on wood, obviously, but those types of plays you've seen before throughout the history of the NBA. Guys suffer really bad injuries from instances exactly like that, so just thought it was dangerous, unnecessary, and excessive ... I told him like, yo, we both locked up. Obviously, he took it to another place."
Brown shared his side of the story during his postgame press conference.
"I think he knew exactly what he was trying to do, trying to get tangled up because he didn't want to play defense," Brown said. "They called the foul but he was still trying to hang on, so I was trying to hang on, so I was trying to get my arm free. ...
"I felt like Duncan Robinson knew what he was doing there," he reiterated. “Trying to get tangled up and trying to draw whatever -- I don't know what he was trying to do, but I bet he won't do it again."
Between the physicality and the nail-biter of a fourth quarter, Sunday's game had the feel of a playoff showdown between the Eastern Conference rivals. The Celtics escaped Kaseya Center with a 110-106 victory to sweep the season series.
Boston will wrap up its quick two-game road trip on Tuesday vs. the Brooklyn Nets.