After Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers, Jaylen Brown stated that some Pacers players turned into Michael Jordan during the game. Now, after Game 4, Brown revealed that T.J. McConnell was who he was referring to when speaking about his hard foul on the Pacers guard.
“I was just going for the ball,” Brown said. “The game is so fast, just trying to make a play on the ball and I think I got him in the face a little bit. And T.J.’s my guy, I got nothing but respect for T.J. McConnell. We talked throughout the year, we talked even before the series.
“Man, T.J. is a dog,” Brown continued. “When I said that some of those guys turned into Michael Jordan, T.J. McConnell is who I was talking about. He was like one of the more unstoppable players on that team. So, I didn’t mean no harm.”
(starts at 7:31 mark):
Here is the play in question if you missed it.
Jaylen Brown was called for a common foul on this play on T.J. McConnell. pic.twitter.com/Um6fkiCnob
— ESPN (@espn) May 28, 2024
Brown somehow was only assessed with a common foul on this play. The officials felt that he was making a play for the ball and there was no wind-up or follow-through, so it was not worthy of a flagrant. That was not a popular decision, to say the least.
Getting back to McConnell turning into Jordan, he was indeed making some ridiculous plays in the first half of Game 3. The 32-year-old had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal at the end of the second quarter. He had also gone 5-8 from the field and was giving the Celtics all sorts of problems.
McConnell ended that game with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal. He and the likes of Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner gave it their all in that contest but with Tyrese Haliburton out, the Pacers just came up short, losing 114-111.
Close heartbreaking losses ended up being a bit of a theme for Indiana in this series. The Pacers lost Game 1 by five points (133-128) and Games 3 and 4 (105-102) by three. Had they just executed better down the stretch, they wouldn’t have gotten swept by the Celtics.
While the Pacers would undoubtedly have been disappointed with how things panned out, a lot of their players can hold their heads high for how they competed, especially once Haliburton went down. McConnell is certainly one of them and he finished the series with averages of 15.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 0.8 steals per game.
Jaylen Brown Threw Some Shade At Myles Turner When Talking About Their Scuffle
While I don’t believe Brown intentionally hit McConnell in the face, he definitely did mean to shove Myles Turner earlier in the game. The Pacers big man had barged into Derrick White on a play and the three-time All-Star wasn’t too pleased about that. Brown was asked about that scuffle with Turner after the game and he threw some shade at him in response.
“Myles is a good kid. Let’s start with that,” Brown said. “I think throughout the series, he loses control of his body a little bit and likes to throw his body around and we got the offensive foul but I just was letting him know, ‘Just watch it.’ And I don’t think it was nothing crazy, I didn’t push him extremely hard or nothing like that.
“But emotions is flying,” Brown continued. “He feels like he’s at home, he got his family watching and stuff. His girl was probably watching so he had to do something. But Myles is a good kid and I’ve known Myles a long time, we good friends, so it’s all love.”
I certainly don’t believe I would be making such comments about someone if it were all love between me and them. Those came across as very condescending and I wonder if Turner reacts to the comments at some point.
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