Jaylen Brown had one of the worst games of his season Tuesday night, and the Boston Celtics blew out the Philadelphia 76ers 123-101 in a renewed rivalry game at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Brown finished with 13 points, five rebounds, four turnovers and a game-worst minus-27.
Almost all the fans in the building rose to their feet when Brown got the ball on one wing and matched up with Jayson Tatum early in the first quarter. Brown took two dribbles, tried a spin move, stumbled and lost the ball out of bounds. Seconds later, he fouled Tatum on the next possession while still arguing with an official about what he believed was a missed call on the previous play.
That sequence captured a rough night for Brown. After weeks of back-and-forth with Tatum, including Brown’s claim that there was no beef but “a little lamb chops and some gravy,” he struggled as the Celtics pulled away.
Brown and Tatum keep their distance
Brown said days before the game that he did not plan to speak to Tatum, his teammate for nine years in Boston, with whom he won a title in 2024.
“Nothing to talk about,” said Brown, who was traded this offseason. Moments before tipoff, Tatum did not seem to accept that message. He headed toward Brown for a dap and eventually tapped Brown’s chest, but Brown acted as if Tatum were not there. Tatum then moved on and shook hands with Sixers forward LeBron James, who stood next to Brown.
When asked about the moment later, Brown sidestepped the question.
“I’m just focused on doing what’s best for my team,” Brown said. “Everything else was just, to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention, but credit to Jayson; he played well tonight.”
Tatum also sidestepped the hype surrounding their first post-trade matchup.
“No headlines about anything like that,” he said. “I was just getting ready for the game, ready for jump ball, go out there, compete, have some fun and try to get a win.”
Foul trouble derails a strong stretch
Brown had been playing some of his best basketball of the season. He scored a season-high 30 points in a win over Detroit and followed that with 29 points in Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bulls. He appeared to be finding a rhythm with his new team, but that rhythm vanished Tuesday.
“He had a tough night,” coach Nick Nurse said.
Brown also picked up an uncharacteristic number of fouls. After the initial foul on Tatum, he drew a charging foul while running over Derrick White, and he begged the Sixers’ sideline to challenge the call without success. He landed on the bench with just over five minutes left in the first half in foul trouble. It was his first game with multiple first-quarter fouls this season, and he had not committed more than two fouls in a first half with Philadelphia. He finished with four fouls, the last of which came at the 10:40 mark of the third quarter on a reaching call.
“I’m a bit frustrated, honestly,” Brown said.
Although the emotions of the matchup seemed to weigh on him, Brown pushed back on that idea after the game.
“I didn’t have any emotion. I was locked in. I was focused, I was ready to go,” Brown said. “Foul trouble kind of took me out of my rhythm a little bit. I had to sit for a while, and we didn’t execute as well as they did.”