Heat’s Duncan Robinson reveals why he taunted the Boston crowd in Game 7: ‘I wanted to do it, there was a little internal conflict’

Just as the Celtics were hoping to complete a historic comeback from a 3-0 series deficit in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat, Duncan Robinson scored a layup midway Game 7’s fourth quarter to put his team up by 21 points. Just as he dropped the ball inside the rim, he trolled the Boston crowd by making gestures that he couldn’t hear them chanting anymore at the TD Garden. 

The player recently revealed on an episode of “The Old Man & the Three” podcast that days before he had suffered a massive text chain from the opponent’s fans and decided he was out for revenge this past Monday evening.

The 29-year-old started off by saying that this wasn’t an easy decision, considering he’s a native of Massachusetts and grew up loving the team. “I wanted to do it. So here is the deal, there’s a little of internal conflict,” he admitted. “You’re playing on the floor that you grew up in, being fortunate enough to go on games and growing up in the southeastern country.

“So, you have the idea you wanna do it, but I have to be relevant enough in the game to like warrant that, and I really told the line on that because like ideal you score like 20, or 20 plus and then you’re doing it to have a little bit more of validity,” Robinson explained, as he decided to taunt the home fans after only his tenth point of the night.

With six minutes to the final buzzer, check out the Miami player’s gesture as his team was well on their way to eliminate the Celtics:

“I don’t know how this happened, maybe someone I went to highschool with or something, because I still have the same number than back then.

“My number got put in like a massive group chat, so after we lose Game 6, my phone is blowing up from all these random New England numbers”, the foward recalled as the Celtics fans were cursing and threatening him.

The Miami athlete admitted that many people loved the gesture, as many thought it was needless

So, Robinson used this situation to fuel his motivation to take revenge and mock the Boston crowd. He explains why this group chat affected him more than it usually would.

“I’m like, ‘what is going on’, and I’m also pissed because I’m on the heels of this home-crushing loss and not to mention I missed some shots on the stretch,” he recalled. “So I’m like in my feels and really worked up about it.”

On the podcast show, the 29-year-old said that his actions created a polarized reaction from fans.

“You would be shocked at how many people were bothered by it,” he admitted. “I heard from a lot of people love it, it was very polarized. And then obviously all the people who are bitter back home said that is was so unnecesary, like classless, and all this stuff, and whatever.”

The Heat finally beat the Celtics 103 to 84 in Game 7, and advanced to their seventh NBA Finals to encounter the Nuggets. The series begin on June 1.