Jaylen Brown says Joel Embiid is a basketball great but flops too much: 'He knows it too'

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He began by praising the 76ers’ former MVP center, Joel Embiid, who missed the series’ first three games before returning for the final four. “Even though we was up 3-1, when Joel Embiid came back, it was an issue,” Brown said. Brown showed a third-quarter clip in which the 6-foot-6, 223-pound guard attempted to guard the 7-foot, 270-pound center in the post, unsuccessfully, as Embiid powered through for 2 of his 34 points, to go along with 12 rebounds, in the closeout performance. It marked just his fourth game back after missing roughly two weeks following emergency appendicitis surgery. Embiid underwent the operation April 9 and missed the 76ers’ final two regular-season games, their Play-In win over the Orlando Magic and the first three games against Boston, when the Celtics surged to a 2-1 lead. Boston overpowered Philadelphia 128-96 in Embiid’s Game 4 return but failed to close out the series over the final three games. Embiid averaged 28.6 points in 37.3 minutes per game across Philadelphia’s final three wins, with two double-doubles. His dominance bordered on comical to Brown. The Boston guard pulled up a previous clip from “about a week before we played them” when he had assessed the 76ers without their star center, who had appeared in just 38 games this season and was out hurt at the time. At the moment, Brown wondered whether Philadelphia might be better off. “I think, personally, they may be a little better without Embiid,” he said before the series. “I’m not sure, but I know they’re doing all this. They’ve been playing well, finding the identity. … We’ll see if the big fella comes back; they’ve been doing their job.” After the fact, Brown suggested Embiid’s takeover might have been evidence the 32-year-old had taken notice of Brown’s slights. He posited that Embiid sat at home “eating chocolate chip cookies” while watching and stewing over Brown’s comments “he’s like, ‘You know what? When I come back, I’m gonna show these n—–’, because I ain’t never seen him that dominant.” Turns out Brown was wrong, and he knew it. “I give him credit,” Brown finished. “He came out, and he made a difference in this series, no question.” And while Brown conceded that Embiid ultimately swung the series against the Celtics, he took issue with the center’s play style and the way it was officiated. Embiid has long leaned into contact, often initiating it to get to the line. He earned 28 free-throw attempts across the final three 76ers wins. For Brown, drawing fouls is an art, but he drew a firm line between that and what he sees as exaggeration, arguing that fans often blur the distinction without understanding it. To him, Embiid’s approach crosses into something below the integrity of the game. “I still think he flopped entirely, way too much,” Brown said. “Some of y’all don’t even know what flopping is in the chat, like some of y’all clearly don’t know basketball. Y’all don’t know what flopping is. Flopping is exaggerating contact that’s already there. It’s not about drawing contact or drawing fouls. Nobody has a problem with drawing fouls. That’s a part of the game. Use your brains. “That’s the thing about this basketball era where y’all have turned our brains off and just look at analytics. Y’all have no idea what y’all talking about. Flopping and exaggerating contact is different. It’s like when somebody barely touched you and you selling a call to make it seem like you just got shot by two police officers…. Argue with your grandma, flopping has ruined our game. Joel Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in f—— basketball history, flops. He knows it. This ain’t breaking news.” Brown also took issue with how he was officiated personally. He pointed to a clip of a pull-up jumper he converted, where he believed he was fouled but received no call, then launched into a brief diatribe about what he viewed as a pattern working against him and his team. Boston ranked last in free-throw attempts during the regular season and 14th out of 16 playoff teams in the first round. “It’s crazy this series that I was complaining about officiating,” Brown said. “Rightfully so, we were like, our team finished dead last in getting calls. And I was vocal about it.” Brown, who scored 33 points in Game 7 and averaged a career-high 28.7 points per game this season, said he felt the whistle most on the offensive end. He believed he was officiated more harshly in situations where he created space, particularly on push-offs, a move he argued is common across the league. Brown pointed to New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson and 76ers star Paul George as examples of players he feels use similar tactics without the same scrutiny, viewing it as evidence of a personal inconsistency in how he is judged. “Every player does it. So why are you targeting me?” he said on stream. “They clearly had an agenda. Maybe because I spoke and was critical of refs in the regular season. So they responded, ‘You’re gonna lead the playoffs in offensive fouls.’ That’s how that was, the response from the officiating crew. You could clearly tell. “And I’ve actually spoke to some refs, and they said it was an agenda going into each game. ‘So anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it.’” Brown eventually moved on, returning to breaking down film. The Celtics and Brown enter an unfamiliar offseason. It marks the first time in his career that his season has ended in a first round series in which he played. Brown missed Boston’s 2020-21 first-round exit to the Brooklyn Nets with a torn left wrist ligament. The 29-year-old has reached six conference finals, two NBA Finals, and won a title in 2023-24, earning Finals MVP honors in his 10-year NBA career. Now, sitting at home while the playoffs continue without him, Brown finds himself in relatively new territory. A space he’s chosen to navigate publicly, streaming his reflections for anyone willing to listen. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms