Duncan Robinson taunted the TD Garden late in Miami's Game 7 win. What fired him up? A group chat.
Duncan Robinson can't hear the Boston crowd after his layup puts the Heat up 21 over the Celtics in the 4th quarter of Game 7 pic.twitter.com/DVhdkl6nWl
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) May 30, 2023
Robinson had 10 points in Miami's blowout win, but his emotion didn't just come from Miami's imminent elimination of the Celtics.
As he told J.J. Redick on "The Old Man and the Three" podcast, Robinson, who grew up in New Hampshire, got added to a Celtics group chat after Game 6. And those fans mercilessly taunted him.
.@D_Bo20 tells @jj_redick and @talter why he decided to do the Hulk Hogan taunt to the Celtics crowd during Game 7.
— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) May 31, 2023
Full episode drops later today. https://t.co/irIRZINaEK pic.twitter.com/t8r3OAICQY
"I don't know how this happened," Robinson told Redick, speculating that it could have been someone he knew from high school. "My number got put into a massive group chat. So after we lose Game 6, my phone is blowing up with all these random New England numbers."
Robinson said he was getting profane taunts and even pictures of Curt Schilling's bloody sock — from when the Red Sox pulled off a comeback from being down 3-0 in the 2004 ALCS. He was also "in his feels" after the "bone-crushing loss" in Game 6, where Derrick White scored with 0.1 seconds to win it.
He also regretted his own two misses down the stretch, one of which was almost impossibly wide-open.
Duncan Robinson had two of the cleanest 3-point looks he's seen this series in the final 1:30. Both missed.
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) May 28, 2023
"Oh, man — the first one I couldn't believe how much time I had. Checked the wind and everything. Obviously, you want to get those back ... Yeah, those will stay with me." pic.twitter.com/WwMm36Dzle
So Robinson decided in advance he was going to celebrate big if he got the chance. He chose a classic wrestling celebration — the classic Hulk Hogan "I can't hear you" cupped ear.
Or an Olympic walker doing the @HulkHogan ear cup? pic.twitter.com/Omp7XP5WWo
— Gareth Olver 〓〓 (@GBO26) July 26, 2021
The problem for Robinson was that he wasn't sure he'd earn the celebration.
"I wanted to do it. But I have to be relevant enough in the game to warrant that," Robinson explained. "Ideally you score 20+ and then you're doing it. For my 10th point on a layup? Not really what I envisioned."
He might not have dominated like he wanted in Game 7, but Robinson was a solid contributor. He had two steals and a block, and Miami outscored Boston by 17 points in the 20 minutes he was on the floor.
Now as the Heat head to Denver for Game 1 of the Finals Thursday night, the organization knows what they have to do to get a great performance from Robinson: Leak his phone number to a Nuggets group chat.
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