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Celtics vs. Heat 2012: Dwyane Wade calls Rajon Rondo flagrant foul 'a punk play'

Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was called for a flagrant foul at the end of Tuesday night's season opener against the Miami Heat when he came across Dwyane Wade's neck on a drive. Wade called it 'a punk play.'

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat were able to win against the Boston Celtics without LeBron James for much of the second half, but the Celtics did make a rally at the end of the game. When it proved to be too little, too late, things got a little chippy between a couple of star players.

Dwyane Wade was on the right wing in the last minute of the game, driving to the basket when Celtics' point guard Rajon Rondo hit him with a clothesline. It wasn't necessarily a violent move, but clearly not a play on the ball and more so Wade's neck.

After the whistle, Wade held the ball over his head as if he wanted to throw the ball at Rondo, Charles Barkley-on-Shaq style, but he refrained. That would've been a horrible way for the defending champions to start the season.

Wade and Rondo did have words at that moment and had to be separated by teammates and officials. Here's Wade after the game on the foul, which was graded a flagrant-1:

"That was a punk play. He clotheslined me with two arms."

These guys really don't seem to like each other.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.