Celtics Star Jaylen Brown Calls Out 76ers Guards For Flopping

BOSTON — Celtics star Jaylen Brown had another rock-solid performance Tuesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Brown continued his hot streak since the All-Star break by putting up a team-high 31 points on an ultra-efficient 11-for-14 shooting along with six rebounds in a 117-99 win for the Celtics at TD Garden.

The only downside to Brown’s showing was the four turnovers he committed. Two of those turnovers came with Brown being whistled for offensive fouls in the second quarter.

Brown clearly didn’t love the calls and believed that Cameron Payne and Tyrese Maxey got away with flopping on those possessions.

“It just sucks when you work on certain things, like you work on getting to your spots, you work on the little guys guarding you and I had two offensive fouls tonight, where I feel like they allow these guys to use their hands to stop you, to guard you,” Brown said. “But as soon as you try to own your space, it’s an offensive foul. Those possessions hurt our team. Those are stuff that I work on all the time.

“Flopping is a part of the game and I feel like if you want to get certain calls or you don’t want to get in those situations, you almost got to like learn to flop.”

In each instance, Payne and Maxey played aggressive defense on Brown, who tried to muscle his way past the smaller guards at the high post. Brown was called for hooking Payne as he made his way into the paint while the three-time All-Star tried to back down Maxey only for Maxey to fall to the floor after a couple of bumps to the body.

It’s a lesson learned for Brown and the fouls didn’t deter him. He ended up shooting 10 free throws — six more than his average — as he was a catalyst in a ninth straight win for the Celtics.