On the heels of a gentleman's sweep against the Orlando Magic, Celtics star Jaylen Brown showed class in a postgame interview after Tuesday night's Game 5 win.
After what was a hard-fought, scrappy series against the young Magic, Brown applauded Orlando for their physical style of play, making it tough on the 61-win Celtics at times.
Jaylen Brown Applauds Magic After First Round Series Win
The comments come after some controversial, some may say dirty, plays stood out in the early part of the series.
Every game had its own story in the Celtics' first-round series, but the defending champs pulled through and are now 12 wins away from back-to-back NBA championships. To recap the first round, here are some of the physical plays that may have just sparked a rivalry in the East for years to come.
In the fourth quarter of Game 1, Jayson Tatum suffered a bone bruise in his wrist when going up for a layup against two Magic defenders. The play was ruled a flagrant foul committed by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and the injury would sideline Tatum for Game 2.
Game 2 would see Kristaps Porzingis take an elbow to the forehead from Magic center Goga Bidatze, leaving a gash in the head of the 7-footer. After getting the wound bandaged and stitched, Porzingis would return to the game shortly after, to the roar of the TD Garden crowd.
Jaylen Brown carried the load in Game 2 with a 36-point effort, but he would then fall victim to another physical play made by the Magic in the Game 3 loss. Going up for a layup, Brown was held by Magic guard Cole Anthony, where he was forcefully brought to the ground and suffered a dislocated finger when trying to break the fall.
Addressing the media after the Game 3 loss, Brown was asked about how the Celtics could respond to the physical plays made by Orlando. His response included some frustration, even with Boston being up 2-1 at the time.
"I mean, I don't know. Might be a fight break out or something because it's starting to feel like, you know, it's not even basketball and the refs is not controlling the environment. It is what it is... If we want to fight it out, we can do that."Jaylen Brown after Game 3
Since that interview, the Celtics won three straight games to close out the Magic and advance to the second round.
Brown paid his respects to the Magic, who have two young stars in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. They are a team that will be taken more seriously if they can surround those two with more offensive firepower, as Orlando scored 100 points just once in the five games against the Celtics. Banchero and Wagner a majority of the scoring, combining for 55.2 points per game in the series.
Now, the Celtics will look ahead to their second-round matchup against either the New York Knicks or Detroit Pistons. Game 6 of that series is Thursday night, with the Knicks leading 3-2.
Game 1 of the Celtics-Knicks/Pistons series could tip off this weekend or early next week, depending on how the rest of the ongoing series across the league plays out.