Jaylen Brown shares a deadly serious reaction to Giannis’ fake handshake that originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Jaylen Brown had zero patience for Giannis Antetokounmpo on Sunday.
In the second quarter of the Boston Celtics’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum, Antetokounmpo hit Brown in the face with an elbow while attempting a layup. Brown demurred and had some nice words for the Bucks star as the two walked to the other side of the field.
At that moment, Antetokounmpo channeled his inner high schooler, reaching out to Brown to give him a high five, but pulling him away at the last minute with a mischievous grin.
A generous interpretation of this exchange is that Giannis was trying to lighten the mood with some harmless fun. But Brown was not in a generous mood.
When asked about the incident after the game, the Celtics star didn’t seem particularly amused.
“Giannis is a kid,” Brown told reporters, as seen in the video player above. “I’m just focused on helping my team get a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Brown was clearly irritated by Antetokounmpo’s antics, which may have been motivated his hard foul on the Bucks superstar in the fourth quarter. But maturity won out Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, as the Celtics rallied from a 17-point deficit to secure a 113-107 win that improved them to 9-2 and dropped the Bucks to 2-8.
Antetokounmpo also drew the ire of Boston’s head coach and star player when he closed aggressively after Jayson Tatum’s jump shot in the fourth quarter, causing Tatum to twist his ankle. No foul was called on the play, which Joe Mazzulla called “ridiculous” after the game.
Antetokounmpo filled the stat sheet with a season-high 43 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two blocks, but Brown and the Celtics had the last laugh — or lack thereof — as Milwaukee’s early-season woes continue.
Check out Brown’s full postgame reactions below.
