NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 19, 2023

Caleb Martin

Miami Heat

Game 2: Postgame

Miami Heat 111, Boston Celtics 105.

Q. Caleb, another game, another team that plays the "I dare Caleb" game. Robert Williams guarding you, almost making you be part of the offense. How did you take that in general, how did you take that tonight and was that part of the fueling to what got you to a career playoff high?

CALEB MARTIN: For sure. Everybody has a game plan or a scheme to follow. I get it. When you're dealing with guys as good as Jimmy, Bam, guys that draw so much attention, you kind of have to pick your poison. I'm on the short end of the stick when it comes to that.

But you know, I welcome that. It's my job to continue to prove to people that I can be the guy to do that off of. I've got to not only with that, but that's just me doing my job and creating space and making things easier on our main guys.

Q. On that same topic, this is not the first time teams have tried that with you, and they have been doing it for over a year. How has your experience with teams trying to put centers on you, and specifically Boston trying to do that to you, how does that set you up for a night like tonight?

CALEB MARTIN: I think automatically, when we got through the second round, we matched up with Boston again, I just knew from the jump, I automatically triggered my brain to last year and the playoffs and knew exactly how they were going to guard me. So I've been preparing myself the minute we beat the Knicks and we were preparing for Boston. I just automatically started trying to re-circuit my brain to the looks I would get and how guys are going to help off of me and me preparing to be ready and confident and assertive.

Q. Understanding that Tatum is going to get his at certain points of the game, what do you guys feel like you've been doing in the fourth quarter to slow him down in those moments?

CALEB MARTIN: Whatever we can. He's a force offensively. Like we were saying with Jimmy, he draws so much attention. He's one of the best scorers in the league. We just do anything that we can to throw bodies at him and give him different looks and different coverages. That's part of him being a great offensive player. He's going to find ways to score regardless. He's done a great job of getting other guys involved.

We just try to throw him different looks and play him as best we can.

Q. The moment Jimmy and Grant Williams got into it, what were you guys thinking on the sideline at the time and what kind of lift did it provide you?

CALEB MARTIN: I knew it was going to be good for us. Knowing Jimmy, at that point in the game, you get him going, we'll take mad Jimmy any time. I knew that you could kind of see it in his eyes that he was ready to go after that.

He leads, we follow. He makes it easy on all of us.

Q. Up 2-0 now in this series heading back to Miami, what do you tell each other in the locker room?

CALEB MARTIN: Job's not done. Those are going to be two of the hardest games that we've played so far coming up next at home. We want to use the home court to our advantage. We just understand the games are going to continue to get tougher, and they are going to come out firing even more than they did the last two games. We've just got to compete as if we are not up two. We just have to continue to have that mindset that we are down two or whatever it is to keep us assertive and confident.

So it's not over until we get to four.

Q. Do you guys take pride in doing what you're doing as an 8 seed or at this point, you don't even consider yourself and 8 seed?

CALEB MARTIN: I don't think we've ever considered ourselves an 8 seed. Obviously we put ourselves in that position through the regular season, but we always knew what we were capable of as a team. We have always had confidence in each other and great chemistry throughout the team.

So we just knew we had to get here and once we got here, things would play out in our favor just because, like I said, with the chemistry and the fact that we are a versatile team, we can really shoot the ball, score the ball. We have guys like Jimmy and Bam on the team, so we knew they were going to help us and definitely help put us in position to make a run.