Jaylen Brown and the Celtics had a 3-1 series lead against Joel Embiid and the 76ers when Embiid did not play three of the first four games in the series. Yet the Celtics managed to lose the first-round series from that position following a set of solid overall performances by the former MVP Embiid.
The former Finals MVP, Brown, subsequently made multiple remarks after the Game 7 loss that were targeted at Joel Embiid and the officials, which received a lot of backlash from the NBA media and even former players. But that did not stop Brown as he took to social media and fired back at the critics for stopping him from speaking his mind.
“Clickbait is like flopping for the media, exaggerating contact. Y’all be safe out here,” wrote Brown on X.
Brown tried everything he could on the floor in Game 7, but the Celtics had no answer for the dual threat of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. He dropped 33 points, nine rebounds, and four assists (12-27 FG, 44.4 FG%, 3-9 3P, 33.3 3P%).
He finished the series averaging 25.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 45.5% from the field and 40.5% from beyond the three-point line.
Instead of taking the blame on his own shoulders for his dud performance in Game 6 (18 points, one rebound, two assists, 7-17 FG, 41.2 FG%) after Tatum left the floor, Brown’s pointing to Embiid’s flopping is not a good look for him. And certainly, doubling down on it is not the best option, but he did that.
What Did Former NBA Players And Media Say About Jaylen Brown?
Former NBA players like Jeff Teague and Kendrick Perkins, combined with media members like Stephen A. Smith and Nick Wright, did not show support for Jaylen Brown following his comments. More so, one even called him out for being a “sore loser.”
Jeff Teague, Brown’s former teammate on the Celtics, initially addressed Brown’s comments on his own podcast before further talking about it on Rich Eisen’s show.
“I’m going to say Jaylen Brown’s a good guy. I enjoy it, but I think that’s a sore loser,” Teague said. “You had three games. You were up 3-1. You had enough opportunity to win a game and take over.”
“Embiid was playing well,” Teague further added. “He flopped. He’s been doing it forever. He’s been getting foul bait and doing that forever, his whole career. I think he [Brown] was just a little bitter about the loss.”
Another former Celtics player, Kendrick Perkins, took exception to Jaylen Brown’s postgame comments.
“This s–t right here, you talking, miss me with all of this s–t. You were up 3-1, m——f—-r your a– flops at times, to sell calls. I don’t want to hear that,” said Perkins on his podcast, the Road Trippin show.
“It was no agenda whatsoever, the agenda was that y’all couldn’t make shots, the agenda was y’all refused to switch up y’all’s style of play of shooting threes after threes when at times y’all could have driven the damn basketball and went got some f—–g layups or put some pressure on the referees.”
“The referees are not going to give the Celtics calls because they shoot a lot of jump shots. If you’re an aggressive team, guess what, you put pressure on the referees; you’re a team that’s not aggressive, you live by the three, you die by the three.
“Y’all died by the three, y’all were up 3-1 in this series. You f—–g lost 3 home games in the Boston Garden, 3. It used to be a sacred place; it used to be a hard place for opponents to win games in there.”
“But instead, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid walked into your m—–f—–g crib shoes all muddy and kicked their feet up on your coffee table, ordered DoorDash with your credit card, that’s how comfortable they were,” Perkins concluded.
Only a few NBA players stood up in Brown’s support, saying they agreed that, to some extent, the Celtics player was targeted by officials.
Former Knicks player Jim Jackson also appeared on the Dan Patrick show and said Brown was a bit too harsh with his comments. But he also tried to understand Brown’s perspective and said maybe the media is stretching his words a bit too far.
On the other hand, Tracy McGrady agreed with him that he felt Brown was targeted by officials. He sat down with Vince Carter for an episode of their podcast ‘Cousins’, where McGrady spoke his mind on what he felt.
“I felt like he’s been targeted this year. So he has a right, you know, to feel that way. If you watch some of the games and some of the calls that have been called on him versus what we see from other guys. So I stand with him on that.”
“Do I agree with him going to do that right after the game? It’s a different age, man. And how these guys communicate, right? They have their own platforms. They could go on, you know, right after and voice their opinions and views of what they have seen. What they just went through.”
“So, to me it really doesn’t matter. It’s just part of, you know, the society we live in now and the liberty these guys have to be able to voice their opinions on their games and what they just witnessed,” McGrady concluded.
Even renowned NBA media members like Stephen A. Smith and Nick Wright called out Brown for his remarks.
“Bro, you get paid over $300 million. You were an MVP candidate,” said Smith on ‘First Take.’
“You were up 3-1 in the series. Did you say anything when you were up 3-1? Did you say anything then? No, you didn’t. And the fact of the matter is, Joel Embiid missed the first three games of the series, came back in Game 4, dropped 26, and the Sixers still got blown out. You said nothing,” said Stephen A. Smith on ESPN.
“How about the fact that you were down 20 and you pulled to within one, and then over the last two minutes, the Boston Celtics launched six straight 3’s. Didn’t even try to get to the hole,” Smith further added.
“The point is, when something like that happens, you cannot have that residue of that experience you’re griping about, Joel Embiid flopping. That is not why the Boston Celtics lost. The Boston Celtics lost because they live and die by the 3, and they played dumb basketball down the stretch.”
Nick Wright, however, was more concerned with Brown’s comments that this was his favorite year than with what he said about Embiid.
“I didn’t like it… I hated it… I find it noteworthy that a player who has won a championship and been a Finals MVP said this year, where they went out in Round 1, blowing a 3-1 lead, was the favorite year of his career,” he said.
Clearly, Brown has triggered some nerves by initiating the conversation about Embiid’s flopping only after he was sure that the Celtics could not take care of it on the court and threw away a 3-1 lead.
And despite this criticism, saying this was his favorite season has further left a sour taste in the mouths of the Celtics’ fans. When players criticize officials or take aggravating action on social media, as we saw with Mitchell Robinson, the league tends to take action.
It will be interesting to see if the league reviews its own decisions from the game or fines Brown for voicing his opinion.
