People can say whatever they want, but Tuesday night’s showdown between the Celtics and the 76ers was more than just one random regular-season basketball game in November. It was Jaylen Brown’s first time in his career facing Boston, the team that drafted him, developed him, and saw him flourish into an All-NBA player and a Finals MVP.
Brown obviously feels a certain way about being traded away in the summer, which is completely fair and his call, and he hasn’t done much to hide his emotions leading up to the game. He called out the organization for being disrespectful and betraying him. He called out Jayson Tatum for lying about his lack of involvement, and he has had one line after another about how he’s on his side now (the 76ers) and just wanted to play basketball.
Well, the day finally came, the basketball was finally played, and overall, it was an atrocious night for Jaylen Brown. Things got off to a rough start before tip-off when the starters made their way to center court, with most players greeting each other in some way. Tatum had big hugs with LeBron James, Joel Embiid, and other Philly players, but that wasn’t the case with Brown.
Brown made a fool of himself with snub of Tatum
Tatum approached Brown, who was spinning a ball on his finger and pretending to be oblivious to his surroundings. JT put his hand on Brown’s chest, seemingly going for a hug or some kind of embrace, but Brown stayed focused on the ball, completely ignoring and snubbing JT, showing zero acknowledgement of his longtime running mate.
Fine, I get that Jaylen is mad at the Celtics, but why is he so upset at Tatum? Tatum isn’t the one who traded him. He has offered nothing but praise and respect since the trade, and has tried to be the bigger person since day one. He did so again, trying to give love to Brown, and instead, Jaylen acted petty and childish and, frankly, just made himself look bad. It was a very tough look for JB and one that he’ll likely regret someday.
Then the game started, and things only got worse for Brown. Not only was he outplayed by Tatum, but he was even more convincingly outplayed by Paul George, the guy he was traded for, along with multiple draft picks. PG looked like the far better player on both ends, scoring 36 big points, including multiple dagger threes to put the Sixers away.
Brown was the worst player on the floor for either team
Meanwhile, JB may have been the worst player on the floor for either team. He was awful, with four turnovers, multiple missed defensive rotations, and shooting just 4-for-9 from the field and 1-for-4 from three. If not for a few late meaningless buckets, his stat line would have looked even more brutal.
Jaylen was also a team worst, -27 in 25 minutes on the court, and the eye test was just as bad as the numbers. He was pressing too hard at times, forcing the issue on offense, and being overaggressive on defense, which led to easy Celtics baskets. Then he got overly complacent, falling asleep and leaving shooters wide open, and all the while, he was making almost no impact on offense.
It was just an awful night for Brown, and he had to watch his old teammates and the player he was traded for celebrating on his new home court after he embarrassed himself with his actions and his play. I hate to see this happen to JB, but in a lot of ways, he dug his own grave on this one. The way he treated Tatum was completely out of line and immature, and he did nothing to back up his tough talk on the court.
It is, literally, just one game. Overall, Brown is having a fine season, the Sixers are still 9-3, and he’ll get three more chances to face the Celtics. But this was his first real opportunity to make a statement, and he whiffed in every way imaginable.
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