"You Boston Motherfuckers, Fuck You" - Udonis Haslem Continued To Be Cringey As Hell After He Tried To Walk Back His Bill Russell Comments
About a month ago, Udonis Haslem unleashed one of the most embarrassing takes you'll probably ever hear when he seemed to be rather bothered that Bill Russell's #6 was retired throughout the league, including in the Heat's arena. Mind you, this is the same arena/team that also hangs Michael Jordan's #23, but apparently that's no problem for Haslem.
Now I get it, teams and players have rivalries, and sometimes those rivalries never die. How that gets spun into somehow disrespecting Bill Russell is something only Haslem can answer because I think we can all agree that's a little embarrassing. How many Heat jerseys will be raised in Boston? Zero. Why? BECAUSE NONE OF THEM ARE BILL RUSSELL.
But I digress. Like everything in media nowadays, about a month went by and pretty much everyone forgot about this rant. That is until Udonis Haslem decided to bring it up again
I mean, if this isn't the clearest example of a bench player talking like a starter, I'm not sure what is. I didn't think it was possible, but this time around is even more cringey than the last. I understand this shit is catnip for #HeatTwitter and all that, but my God have some shame. I'm not saying that there can't be beef between sides, I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual with KD/Pierce/Rondo etc, but the main difference is they're the stars. It's not the same if they were to run their mouth. Haslem? Well let's just relive history quickly, shall we?
Before LeBron and Bosh showed up, the Celtics and Heat faced off in the 2010 playoffs, prior to the Big 3 starting to truly decline due to their age. The Celtics won that series in 5 games, and Haslem put up a monstrous 6 points a game in his 28 minutes a night. It was an ass-kicking.
These two teams faced off again the next year, only now Haslem and the Heat had prime LeBron/Wade/Bosh. That time around the Heat won in 5. Udonis Haslem played 2 total minutes in the entire series after only playing in 13 games all season.
Both sides were back at it again in 2012, now at the end of the Big 3's prime, a series the Heat won in 7 games because LeBron James went absolutely nuclear. Once again, Haslem averaged 6 points a game and had a total of 26 points in their 4 wins.
In 2020, 2022, and 2023 he didn't play a single second.
I'm fairly confident that nothing changes in terms of the Heat's success against Boston if Haslem was there or not. It's your classic case of a bench guy talking all loud and then having the stars on his team back it up. If Jimmy Butler or Bam or Caleb Martin wants o talk shit, that makes sense. They were the ones that buried the Celtics. Udonis Haslem? Not so much.
Not only that, but I'm also pretty sure nobody in Boston was looking for Haslem to apologize to them. I don't care that he says "fuck Boston", why would I? Why would any Celtics fan? The feeling is probably mutual when it comes to the Heat.
The thing is, it's not really about Boston fans, it's about respecting BILL RUSSELL. I don't care what beef there may be between franchises, that's just an insane thing to do. The same way I don't think a single Celtics fan gives a shit that LeBron hates Boston and the Celtics. You don't see him talking like that about Bill Russell do you? That was the whole issue.
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It's not a Celtics or Boston thing, it's a Bill Russell thing. Seems pretty simple to me, and the fact that a Haslem is STILL thinking/talking about the Celtics and Boston tells you everything you need to know.