The Boston Celtics have gotten pummeled by the Miami Heat through the first three games of their Eastern Conference Finals series, setting the stage for a do-or-die Game 4 outing on Tuesday night. One of the defining moments of this series came in Game 3 when Jimmy Butler mocked Al Horford‘s timeout celebration from Game 1, as it was the latest example of the Heat clowning the Celtics.
Among the folks who appreciated Butler's trolling of Horford was Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. Green recalled how Horford pulled a similar stunt when the Warriors and Celtics met in the NBA Finals last year, and called Horford out for trying to be a sneaky trash-talker, saying he got what was coming for him with these sorts of antics.
The Celtics were certainly feeling good about themselves for much of their Game 1 contest against the Heat, but ever since the first half of that game, this series has been all Heat. These two teams have quite a history playing against each other recently, so it's no surprise that Butler took Horford's celebration personally and reciprocated the act during the Game 3 blowout.
For the most part, everybody, including Green, believe that the Celtics are done for, and that Game 4 will be a formality for the Heat. But the C's certainly have enough talent to make things interesting, and maybe they will have some pride and fight back with their season on the line. We haven't seen it from them yet, but maybe all the criticism Al Horford and the rest of the team have received since Game 3 will lead to a change in fortunes on Tuesday night.