Boston Celtics legends Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett recently got the attention of Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem after they were dismissive of Miami’s chances this season.
Haslem took to social media to clap back and made sure to remind the former Celtics stars of “that a– whooping y’all took back in the day.”
Haslem recently addressed the situation.
“It’s just how I feel,” Haslem said. “That’s how I feel. I just feel like every time I turn around, those guys got something to say about us even going back to last year.
“I think Paul was very critical of us last year. It’s like, why? For what? Critical of Bam [Adebayo], critical of Jimmy [Butler] [seven] games in when there’s a lot of teams that’s struggling right now and haven’t hit their stride. Not just us. I feel like it was a bit much and I feel like it goes back. But I can feel it, I can dig it because I don’t like them either. So I can understand why they probably don’t like us and they don’t like me because I don’t like them either, and that’s OK. I don’t have to like everybody. I was taught that as a kid. Be respectful, but you don’t got to like everybody.”
The Heat certainly have their fair share of doubters this season. That’s due to a variety of factors, with the team’s slow start and disappointing offseason being two of the biggest.
Miami is just 2-5 through seven games and seems to be struggling to find its footing. The good news is that the season is extremely young, and the Heat have plenty of time to turn things around.
Moreover, Miami is no stranger to overcoming slow starts. In the 2020-21 campaign, the squad had records of 7-14 and 11-17 at certain points before getting on track and finishing the regular season with a record of 40-32.
In the 2021-22 season, the Heat, of course, came within a win of reaching the NBA Finals. Most of Miami’s key players from last season’s run are still around, so there’s hope that the team can recapture some of the magic that it had during the playoff journey.
Right now, the Heat are getting ready to host the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. Miami is beginning a stretch of three games in four days, and the team would certainly love to make it a productive stretch.
Time will tell if the Heat can prove Pierce and Garnett wrong.