Boston Celtics
“[Flopping] will not be why the Boston Celtics misplaced. The Boston Celtics misplaced as a result of they lived and died with the three, as a result of they performed dumb basketball down the stretch.”
Only a day after the Celtics’ season got here to an abrupt finish in opposition to the 76ers, Celtics star Jaylen Brown didn’t maintain again when discussing Philadelphia star Joel Embiid.
During a live Twitch stream broadcast on Sunday night, Brown known as out Embiid for his knack for drawing calls.
“Flopping has ruined our recreation. Joel Embiid is a superb participant, probably the greatest bigs in [expletive] basketball historical past. [He] flops. He is aware of it,” Brown stated. “It’s not breaking information.”
Contemplating the timing of Brown’s feedback after Embiid and the Sixers erased a 1-3 sequence deficit in opposition to Boston and ended their season on Saturday night time, ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith took umbrage with Brown’s remarks.
“I perceive the place Jaylen Brown is coming from, however right here’s why it’s simply an terrible, terrible search for him,” Smith stated. “Bro, you receives a commission over $300 million — $300 million. You have been an MVP candidate. You have been up 3-1 on this sequence. Did you say something if you have been up 3-1? Did you say something then? No, you didn’t. And the very fact of the matter is, Joel Embiid missed the primary three video games of this sequence, got here again in Sport 4, dropped 26 [points] and the Sixers nonetheless bought blown out, you continue to stated nothing.”
“After which unexpectedly, right here you’re after blowing a 3-1 lead for the primary time in Celtics’ historical past and also you’re gonna sit up there and do a … video complaining about him flopping? How about all [those] rattling missed leap pictures your teammates made? Large open, Jay.”
Embiid and the Sixers bought the final giggle in opposition to the Celtics throughout their playoff sequence. Regardless of lacking the beginning of this playoff sequence whereas recovering from an appendectomy, Embiid averaged 28 factors, 9.0 rebounds, and seven.0 assists over the ultimate 4 video games of this seven-game bout with Boston.
The Celtics did not proper the ship and stave off elimination in Sport 7 on Saturday night time at TD Backyard, with Boston unable to rally again late within the fourth quarter after bricking a number of pictures in crunch time.
The Celtics closed out Saturday’s 109-100 loss taking pictures simply 27 % from 3-point vary (13-for-49), whereas Brown was a minus-16 in his 40 minutes of reps.
“[Flopping] will not be why the Boston Celtics misplaced,” Smith stated. “The Boston Celtics misplaced as a result of they lived and died with the three, as a result of they performed dumb basketball down the stretch. … They simply launched three after three after three and missed six or seven straight threes within the final two minutes [of Game 7].
“They blew this chance. They have been up 3-1, and also you misplaced. This isn’t the time to be speaking about Joel Embiid flopping — rattling certain not [the time] to do a present, a podcast present, or video present about it.”
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