The Miami Heat might be the only group of people that foresaw how the Boston Celtics would fold in the Eastern Conference finals. Sunday night’s Game 3 felt like a climactic point, with the Celtics getting their doors blown off by the Heat on the road, leading to hilarious exchanges between Charles Barkley and Gabe Vincent.
If the Celtics were a championship team — their effort, with their season unofficially on the line — certainly didn’t resemble one.
That same effort seemed pretty jarring to NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who had quite the reactive tweet to the Celtics’ no-show in South Beach. Johnson is known for tweeting thoughts that are, for the most part, pretty obvious. Normally, he’s clearly not going to be someone who ruffles feathers or says anything particularly “spicy.”
On this occasion, Johnson went absolutely in on the Celtics and their embarrassing play in Game 3.
In my 44 years of being associated with the NBA I never thought I’d see a Boston Celtics team, a franchise with 17 Championships, quit. I know Celtics fans all over the world must be disgusted and devastated. The Miami Heat blew them out 128-102 in Game 3.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 22, 2023
Oh… my goodness? That might be the nicest possible way of candidly saying, “This team stinks,” that I’ve ever seen. And that it came from the typically polite Johnson is all the more jarring.
Lest I forget, we can’t discount the Los Angeles Lakers’ angle here. I’m sure it makes L.A. icons like Johnson feel better about the Lakers’ latest title shot likely going down the drain when they see the historical franchise rival Celtics also falling way short. It’s also probably a sign of respect, given all the hard-fought battles Johnson’s Lakers had with the 1980s Celtics.
There’s honesty, and there’s joyful pettiness. This Johnson tweet about the Celtics might have had both.
NBA fans thought Johnson blasting the Celtics' no-show effort was absolutely hilarious
You know Celtics are down extra bad when a Lakers legend feels bad about them 🤭 https://t.co/YMXqHId68j
— 𝙃𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝘼𝙇𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨 ™ (@AIR305) May 22, 2023
I feel like Magic went off the usual script https://t.co/SxqPnqBz5F pic.twitter.com/tsdvbxEh7M
— Malcolm Jamal Dorner (@WGH2nd) May 22, 2023
Everything about this tweet is relatively normal, and then the last sentence is like "ah right gotta stay in character though" https://t.co/KHb9hZFczd
— Al (@All_About_The_U) May 22, 2023
Omg the Celtics broke Magic. https://t.co/t0IEnaTDMy
— Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) May 22, 2023
An all-time great tweet. Adding the score at the end is VERY funny and it’s even better because you know this was done with the best possible intentions because it’s Magic. https://t.co/GJfBNCSU6L
— Raptors Report (@RapsReport) May 22, 2023
This is the meanest Magic tweet of all time lol https://t.co/IsgAERS3Xj
— Kevin (@NBACouchside) May 22, 2023
This is the most vicious tweet Magic has ever sent lmao https://t.co/m4JyteNDB9
— Satchel Price (@SatchelPrice) May 22, 2023
This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer is a food critic and he has to give his lowest rating ever of 7 thumbs up https://t.co/kCfaciAPrD
— Dan Clyne (@danCLYNE) May 22, 2023
the last sentence is the icing on the cake https://t.co/GTghPOkLuA
— Natalie Weiner (@natalieweiner) May 22, 2023
