{"id":652347,"date":"2026-05-06T02:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652347\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:15:14","slug":"jaylen-brown-fires-back-as-nba-media-criticizes-him-for-calling-out-joel-embiids-flopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652347\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaylen Brown Fires Back As NBA Media Criticizes Him For Calling Out Joel Embiid’s Flopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaylen Brown<\/a> and the Celtics<\/a> had a 3-1 series lead<\/a> against Joel Embiid<\/a> and the 76ers<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

The former Finals MVP, Brown, subsequently made multiple remarks after the Game 7 loss that were targeted<\/a> at Joel Embiid and the officials<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cClickbait is like flopping for the media, exaggerating contact. Y\u2019all be safe out here,\u201d wrote<\/a> Brown on X.<\/p>\n

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%).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s pointing to Embiid\u2019s flopping is not a good look for him. And certainly, doubling down on it is not the best option, but he did that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What Did Former NBA Players And Media Say About Jaylen Brown?<\/p>\n

Former NBA players like Jeff Teague<\/a> and Kendrick Perkins<\/a>, combined with media members like Stephen A. Smith<\/a> and Nick Wright<\/a>, did not show support for Jaylen Brown following his comments. More so, one even called him out for being a \u201csore loser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Teague, Brown\u2019s former teammate on the Celtics, initially addressed Brown\u2019s comments on his own podcast before further talking about it on Rich Eisen\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say Jaylen Brown\u2019s a good guy. I enjoy it, but I think that\u2019s a sore loser,\u201d Teague said<\/a>. \u201cYou had three games. You were up 3-1. You had enough opportunity to win a game and take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEmbiid was playing well,\u201d Teague further added. \u201cHe flopped. He\u2019s been doing it forever. He\u2019s been getting foul bait and doing that forever, his whole career. I think he [Brown] was just a little bitter about the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another former Celtics player, Kendrick Perkins, took exception to Jaylen Brown\u2019s postgame comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis s\u2013t right here, you talking, miss me with all of this s\u2013t. You were up 3-1, m\u2014\u2014f\u2014-r your a\u2013 flops at times, to sell calls. I don\u2019t want to hear that,\u201d said<\/a> Perkins on his podcast, the Road Trippin show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was no agenda whatsoever, the agenda was that y\u2019all couldn\u2019t make shots, the agenda was y\u2019all refused to switch up y\u2019all\u2019s style of play of shooting threes after threes when at times y\u2019all could have driven the damn basketball and went got some f\u2014\u2013g layups or put some pressure on the referees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe referees are not going to give the Celtics calls because they shoot a lot of jump shots. If you\u2019re an aggressive team, guess what, you put pressure on the referees; you\u2019re a team that\u2019s not aggressive, you live by the three, you die by the three. <\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all died by the three, y\u2019all were up 3-1 in this series. You f\u2014\u2013g 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut instead, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid walked into your m\u2014\u2013f\u2014\u2013g crib shoes all muddy and kicked their feet up on your coffee table, ordered DoorDash with your credit card, that\u2019s how comfortable they were,\u201d Perkins concluded.<\/p>\n

Only a few NBA players stood up in Brown\u2019s support, saying they agreed that, to some extent, the Celtics player was targeted by officials.<\/p>\n

Former Knicks<\/a> player Jim Jackson also appeared on the Dan Patrick show and said<\/a> Brown was a bit too harsh with his comments. But he also tried to understand Brown\u2019s perspective and said maybe the media is stretching his words a bit too far.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Tracy McGrady<\/a> agreed with him that he felt Brown was targeted by officials. He sat down with Vince Carter<\/a> for an episode of their podcast \u2018Cousins\u2019, where McGrady spoke his mind on what he felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like he\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I agree with him going to do that right after the game? It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to me it really doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s 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,\u201d McGrady concluded<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even renowned NBA media members like Stephen A. Smith and Nick Wright called out Brown for his remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBro, you get paid over $300 million. You were an MVP candidate,\u201d said<\/a> Smith on \u2018First Take.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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\u2019t. 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,\u201d said Stephen A. Smith on ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow 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\u2019s. Didn\u2019t even try to get to the hole,\u201d Smith further added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point is, when something like that happens, you cannot have that residue of that experience you\u2019re 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nick Wright, however, was more concerned with Brown\u2019s comments that this was his favorite year<\/a> than with what he said about Embiid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like it\u2026 I hated it\u2026 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,\u201d he said<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clearly, Brown has triggered some nerves by initiating the conversation about Embiid\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

And despite this criticism, saying this was his favorite season has further left a sour taste in the mouths of the Celtics\u2019 fans. When players criticize officials or take aggravating action on social media, as we saw with Mitchell Robinson, the league tends to take action.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see if the league reviews its own decisions from the game or fines Brown for voicing his opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaylen Brown and the Celtics had a 3-1 series lead against Joel Embiid and the 76ers when Embiid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-652347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}