MIAMI — As the Heat returned home for Saturday’s Game 3 against the Celtics at Kaseya Center, it already had been an eventful postseason for Caleb Martin.
During the play-in round, his two missed free throws in Philadelphia gave fans at Wells Fargo Center free chicken and the 76ers needed momentum to push past the Heat.
Then, during the Heat’s series opener against the Celtics, Martin’s zeal got a little too real for Jayson Tatum, with a hard foul that fueled Google searches for “Code Red.”
Neither of those moments produced a desired result, but the 28-year-old swingman wouldn’t trade these moments for the world.
But he would like to share them.
Pull up the career statistics of the energetic Miami Heat forward and there is a separate tab that includes his 42 career playoff games, postseason appearances that do not even include play-in games such his ones this month against the 76ers or Bulls.
But do the same on the statistics page of twin brother Cody Martin, and there is no tab for playoffs. There haven’t been any, even with Caleb and Cody having entered the NBA together in 2019, even with Cody drafted and Caleb not.
Instead, Cody often can be found during the postseason outside of the Heat locker room, waiting for his brother.
It is something that Caleb would like to be able to reciprocate.
“I mean, it’s tough. It’s like a little bittersweet feeling, when it comes to 82, knowing that we’re still playing and he’s done,” Caleb said of the 82-game regular-season schedule, which has only been a finish line with Cody with the Charlotte Hornets. “He’s a competitor, too. I know my brother well. He’ll find a way to get there, too. So one way or another, he’ll find a way. I’m sure they’ll get it right.”
During the 2021 offseason, the Hornets made the decision to move on from Caleb, to eventually re-up with Cody.
Caleb has been in the playoffs each season since, including back at work Saturday against the Celtics to extend those playoff totals.
“I’m not in this position without certain strings being pulled. That certainly helps,” Caleb said, with J. Cole among those who helped pull strings to get him his Heat tryout after he was waived by the Hornets and forced to part from his brother. “But it was also doing my part.
“If I wasn’t able to contribute, I wouldn’t be here. So just finding a way, whatever that way it is, I’ve been grateful to play after the 82 the last few seasons.”
And now this showcase, asked to do more with the Heat shorthanded in the absences of Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson, exposure that comes ahead of his anticipated free agency this summer.
All while appreciating he is a complementary piece.
“It’s a compliment to be able to fit around guys. It’s a lot harder, it’s different, it just depends. I love the way I’m able to fit,” he said of being a supporting player. “Guys like me are needed across the league. That’s a fit for every team, that every team needs. There are a lot of complementary players that know they’re capable of doing it.
“Jimmy is an example of where he started to where he is now. And a lot of other guys kind of have a similar story. But everybody has aspirations to be bigger, better, to continue to progress every year. But I just love that I fit here, I found my culture here and that I just continue to find a way to get better every year.”
So, yes, fans in Philadelphia got fed courtesy of Caleb. Jaylen Brown and other Celtics got in his face after the hard foul last Sunday in Boston.
But opposing players also have come to grow fed up with his defensive intensity, as was on display in Wednesday night’s Game 2 victory in Boston, when Martin was booed as Public Enemy No. 1.
‘”I love that, to have that type of assignment on any given night, guard their best player,” said Martin, who holds a player option with the Heat for next season. “You love to have those types of matchups.
“This is what you play the game for, is to match up with the best guys in the league. I have the luxury to do that, and it’s such an honor that they see me as a guy that can handle that. So I’m going to continue to get better and continue to keep that perspective.”
While also with the hope that eventually he’ll be the one outside a locker room congratulating his brother on his playoff moments.
IN THE LANE
ANGRY PAT: Not only did former Heat guard Goran Dragic emphatically bang the pregame rally drum before the Florida Panthers’ Tuesday night Stanley Cup Playoffs home overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he also emphatically addressed an element of Heat culture during an appearance this past week on The OGs Podcast of former Heat players Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller. Discussing the start of his Heat tenure in 2015, Dragic revealed a raw moment with Heat President Pat Riley, “I got traded during the middle of the season,” Dragic began, “and I didn’t play well at the beginning. I was struggling — new system, new teammates. And I remember in the offseason, Pat called me into his office and I sat down and he looked dead into my eyes and he was like, ‘Son, you need to be better. We didn’t pay you for this (expletive).’ I’m serious. So I was like, ‘God damn Pat, I just got here.’ He was like, ‘No, no, I want you to think about this the whole summer.’ And I literally had this in my mind.” Dragic would go on to help push the Heat within one victory of the Eastern Conference finals the following season, named an All-Star for the lone time in his career two seasons later.
WAITING GAME: After being named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month the first two months of the season, Heat guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. appeared headed to at least a finalist berth of Rookie of the Year. Instead, those berths went to Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren and Brandon Miller. Jaquez said he appreciated his situation with the Heat was a bit different in terms of being cast as a rookie supporting piece. “I think it all goes to the situation, where you are, and the team that you play for,” Jaquez said. “I had a lot of opportunity early in the year due to a lot of injuries. That was great. And then guys started coming back and your role starts to shrink and you don’t get to produce as much, which is fine. That just becomes a part of growing. Ultimately, I think I helped impact winning, most of all. And I think everybody knew, no matter what, Victor was going to be Rookie of the Year. That formal announcement still awaits, as does the naming of the All-Rookie teams. “I think I deserve first team,” Jaquez said. “Obviously it’s not something I go out and seek out. But I think I’m definitely in that category and I think I’ve done a lot to prove it.”
GREATER GOAL: Amid this series against the Heat, the Celtics have watched almost nightly as the NBA pregame shows run through the lists of finalists for a league award and then name a winner who is not a Celtic. Boston, in fact, did not have a single finalist for any of the league’s major awards. So be it, said coach Joe Mazzulla, himself not a finalist, despite leading the Celtics to the league’s best record. “The great thing about this team is I think from day one, we’ve appreciated the individual awards that we’ve gotten from the Player of the Month, staff of the month (actually coach of the month) and whatnot,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I think one of the biggest strengths of this team is they haven’t had that agenda. None of the guys have brought it up. And I don’t think it’s important at all, because we’re all focused on what we need to do as a team.”
SECOND HELPING: With Mazzulla in his second postseason, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra at the start of this series was asked to reflect on what his second postseason as coach was like, “It’s tough for me to really remember,” he joked of the time that has passed since those 2009 and 2010 playoffs. “People think our first playoff runs with our coaching staff was during the Big Three. It wasn’t,” he said. “We had two playoff runs before that, where we were knocked out in the first round.” Indeed, the Heat lost in the 2009 first round to the Hawks and 2010 first round to the Celtics, before four consecutive runs to the NBA Finals with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Spoelstra’s first Heat playoff roster included Jamario Moon, Yakhouba Diawara, Mark Blount, Luther Head and current Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn, as well as Dorell Wright, brother of current Heat guard Delon Wright.
NUMBER
42. Times Heat President Pat Riley has made the playoffs in his 51 seasons in the NBA, making it six times as a player, 21 as a coach and 15 as an executive.
