Jaylen explains why he yelled at the referee after dagger Game 4 3-pointer originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
Jaylen Brown had a seemingly strange reaction to hitting the biggest shot of the game on Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Brown hit a three-pointer off a pass from Jayson Tatum with 1:09 remaining that extended the Boston Celtics’ lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers from five to eight and essentially sealed it. their 109–102 victory in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
After making the shot, however, Brown appeared to yell in the direction of referee Tyler Ford and began walking toward Ford before his teammates caught him. (Brown also took a celebratory shot in the chest from Tatum; more on that later.)
So what made Brown so upset? The All-Star guard claimed Ford bumped into him before he hit the big shot.
“Tyler, the referee who was running down the sideline, I don’t think he was paying attention, but he was like on the play,” Brown said. “When I was getting up, I bumped into him first. he had to push him to get the ball and be able to knock down (knock down) the shot.
“It was like he was an extra defender because he was in the way. So that’s why I was telling him to get his ass out of the way.”
If you watch the play again, you can see Ford collide with Brown, who has to push Ford out of the way with his left hand before catching Tatum’s pass and making the shot.
“I don’t think he knew what I was talking about, but he actually really liked it – I thought he had an effect on the play,” Brown said of Ford. “Maybe I was tripping, I have to be careful, but I’m getting up because I want to give JT space… and as I’m walking up, I bump into Tyler, like, on the floor.
“And that affects a possession of importance like this — that makes a big difference. Like, you’re bumping into the officer while trying to get space and get an open view. , I thought.”
If Brown missed the 3-pointer, we may have heard a lot more about this incident. But the 27-year-old was laser-focused on Monday night, finishing with 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting while also delivering the knockout punch to Cleveland on that 3-pointer.
As for Tatum’s blow to Brown’s chest that made Brown wince in pain?
“Yeah, I’m going to bring Jayson back for that too,” Brown said with a smile. “I wasn’t paying attention and he came out of nowhere with a left hook straight to the chest. I’m going to get him back for that.”
The Celtics now lead the series 3-1 and can advance to the Eastern Conference Finals with a victory in Game 5 at TD Garden. Tip-off is set for 7pm ET, with NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics pregame live starting at 6pm
