CLEVELAND — After Jaylen Brown made a tough layup, he ended up on the court. In the process, the Celtics star got tangled up with Max Strus’ foot, which was making some contact with the back of Brown’s head. Somewhere in the process, Brown ended up yanking on Strus’ foot, which was called for the foul.
The Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse crowd was incensed that Brown committed such a foul. But upon further review, Brown wasn’t called for a flagrant foul as it was deemed an illegal play, just not unnecessary. Then after an even lengthier review, Brown was dinged for an away-from-play foul, which gave the Cavs a free throw anyway. But regardless, the Cavaliers fans booed him from then on whenever Brown had the ball.
“I embrace it,” Brown said of the boos. “I drove to the basket, felt like there was some contact, finished the play, landed on the ground. I feel like somebody kicking me in the back of the head, so I feel like I got the right to remove or at least trying to protect that.”
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There is some history between Strus and the Celtics, of course, and not just that he started his career with the team. Strus was just recently with the Heat squad that’s had some playoff battles in recent years before signing with Cleveland last summer. So there’s some carryover there from some high-intensity basketball.
Brown once again got the better of the shorthanded Cavaliers in the Celtics’ clutch-time Game 4 win Monday. The C’s now lead the East semifinals 3-1 with a chance to close out the series in Game 5 on Wednesday. Brown was a huge part of the victory, putting up 27 points and eight rebounds on 9-for-15 shooting as his efficiency once again stuck out.
Fortunately, the altercation didn’t lead to much bad blood for the rest of the game. Cavs fans hit Brown with some boos, but that’s part of life in a road playoff atmosphere. The C’s are well-versed in such situations as they’re now 4-0 in road playoff games this season. Brown took the strange play in stride, saying he wasn’t trying to trip anyone up but did need to protect himself. So now, they’ll flip the page to Game 5, set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at TD Garden.
“I wasn’t trying to do nothing there, trying to trip nobody up,” Brown said. “But at the same time, you’re not about to just kick me in the head. It is what it is.I think they made the right call and we move on.”
