Everything is heightened during the NBA playoffs. The intensity coming from the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics has been notable as physical play has picked up from the often-routine regular season. In addition to the teams' players and coaching staffs, fan reaction has gone over the edge as well. While both teams have been heavily involved with physical play in the first two games, the fans have had  complaints about dirty play by each team..

The Heat supporters argued on Reddit that the Celtics were dirty and questioned whether Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had called a “Code Red” to hurt Heat players. Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum were questioned for their physical play against Bam Adebayo, Joe Jacquez and Caleb Martin.

While the Heat fans made their feelings known on Reddit, Celtics fans had their own accusations on X (formerly Twitter) over previous actions by Heat players against their rivals from Boston.

Celtics and Heat are regular postseason combatants

This year's first-round playoff series marks the third straight season the two teams have met in the postseason.

The Celtics defeated the Heat in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals by a 4-3 margin and that allowed Boston to earn a trip to the NBA Finals where they were defeated by the Golden State Warriors.

The two teams met again in last year Eastern Conference Finals, and Miami raced out to a 3-0 lead before Boston stormed back to tie the series. However, the Celtics were unable to take advantage of their momentum and Miami rolled to a victory in the seventh game despite playing on the road. The Heat lost their NBA Finals series against the Denver Nuggets.

The Heat has won four of the six playoff series between the two teams.

Celtics heavily favored in 2024 series

The Celtics were the NBA's dominant team during the 2023-24 regular season and they earned home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The Heat were forced to compete in the play-in round and their position as a playoff team was not assured until they overwhelmed the Chicago Bulls.

That victory gave them the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and set up yet another series with the Celtics. The Heat has been heavily dependent on superstar Jimmy Butler in past series, but a knee injury has prevented him from playing in this series.

The Celtics are heavily favored to defeat their long-time rivals, and they rolled to a 114-94 victory at TD Garden in Game 1. However, the Heat rebounded in Game 2 of the series with a 111-101 triumph over the shocked home team.

The Heat had a brilliant shooting night from distance, connecting on 23 of 43 shots from beyond the arc. Celtics star Jaylen Brown gave the Heat their due following the game.

“They put together a good game plan, they feel confident, and they execute,” Brown said. “I just thought they made a lot of shots that we feel comfortable with, but it’s the playoffs, it is what it is. We’ve got to respond.”