The Miami Heat’s win over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday was marred by a fracas between Caleb Martin and Christian Koloko.
A few minutes into the second half, Martin and Koloko were battling for a rebound after a Pascal Siakam 3-point attempt. The Raptors rookie appeared to hit Martin on the back of the head while he was falling down.
The Heat’s starting power forward did not take that lightly, and as Koloko tried to stand up, he speared the big man into the stands.
Caleb Martin tackles Christian Koloko into the stands 😳pic.twitter.com/bY4gg7v27p
— Heat Nation (@HeatNationCom) October 23, 2022
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and no other fight ensued. The Heat’s coaching staff also seemed to do a good job of preventing players on the bench from going onto the court.
NBA rules dictate that bench players that leave the immediate vicinity of the bench during such altercations have to be suspended at least one game.
Naturally, both Martin and Koloko were ejected from the game following the incident. They then offered their thoughts on what happened after the contest.
For Martin, he understands that contests between the Heat and Raptors tend to get chippy. The 6-foot-5 forward also regretted not keeping his cool during the situation. It remains to be seen if the league decides to punish him further for his role in the scuffle.
“I just think that there’s a lot plays that were kind of leading up to it,” Martin said. “It was a chippy game. That’s typically how the game goes with Toronto. It’s a chippy back and forth. But ultimately I just think that emotions were high and the game was a close game. It was back and forth. Overall, I got to be more professional in the way I handle those type of situations.”
As for Koloko, he insisted that he was just defending himself and seemingly had no clue as to why he was ejected.
“I feel like everybody saw what happened,” Koloko said. “I got fouled and I fell and I don’t know what he was trying to do. I just stood up for myself and I get ejected. So that’s what happened.”
The No. 33 overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft also expressed confusion about Martin’s actions.
“When he fouled me, he was basically grabbing me and pushing me,” Koloko continue. “I don’t know. … I’m confused. I don’t know why. I don’t even know him, so I don’t know what was going on in his head.
“He just stood there looking at me like crazy. I just stood up. I don’t know.”
This is not the first time that Heat and Raptors players have nearly come to blows when facing each other.
In a regular season matchup during the 2017-18 campaign, Goran Dragic and DeMar DeRozan got into an argument that resulted in Dragic seemingly spitting on DeRozan.
https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/950925627917467648
There have been plenty of other testy incidents between the two organizations, which is understandable considering they have faced each other in many intense battles.
Interestingly, the Heat and Raptors will face off again on Monday. After that, they will battle one another two more times during the regular season.
