Jaylen Brown is not blaming one player for the Boston Celtics’ playoff exit, but he is making it very clear who he thinks benefited from the whistle.
After the Celtics were eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series, Brown took to Twitch and called out Joel Embiid for what he described as flopping. The comments came after Philadelphia beat Boston 109-100 at TD Garden, completing a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit and sending the defending Eastern Conference contenders home earlier than expected.
“I mean, this is my personal opinion on basketball,” Brown said. “Some of y’all might disagree, you know what I mean? But argue with your grandma. Flopping has ruined our game.”
Brown made sure to separate Embiid’s talent from the criticism. He called the 76ers center “one of the best bigs in basketball history,” but added that Embiid “flops” and “knows it.”
The comments landed because Embiid had just changed the tone of the series. In Game 7, he finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, while Tyrese Maxey added 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Brown led Boston with 33 points and nine rebounds, but the Celtics were without Jayson Tatum, who was ruled out before tipoff with left knee stiffness.
Brown’s issue was not only with Embiid. He also accused the officials of targeting him with offensive foul calls, suggesting that his past criticism of NBA referees may have followed him into the postseason.
“Why are you targeting me? They clearly had an agenda,” Brown said. “Maybe because I spoke, I was critical of the refs in the regular season.”
He then argued that other stars use similar physical movements when driving to the basket, but do not get punished the same way.
“Paul George does the same thing. Jalen Brunson does the same thing. I can go down the list,” Brown said. “It’s a basketball play, whether y’all believe it or not. Everybody does that when you drive, especially if you’ve got bodies on you. But Philly took advantage of it, and they took advantage of the officiating.”
According to Reuters, Brown was called for 10 offensive fouls in the first round, more than twice as many as the next-highest player in the series. Reuters also reported that Brown claimed he had spoken to referees who told him there was an “agenda” around calling him when he raised his arm on drives.
This is not the first time Brown has criticized foul-baiting. In March, after a close Celtics loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brown said he was not “looking to flop,” but added that it sometimes felt like players had to sell contact to get the benefit of the whistle. He also said the league rewards players who “manipulate the game” instead of simply playing through contact.
For Boston, the loss was a brutal ending. The Celtics entered the series as the No. 2 seed and had a 3-1 lead before Philadelphia won three straight games. ESPN noted that it was Boston’s earliest playoff exit since the 2020-21 season, while the 76ers moved on to face the New York Knicks in the second round.
Brown’s remarks now add another layer to an already heated Celtics-76ers rivalry.