Celtics

What Jaylen Brown said about confronting Caleb Martin after hard foul on Jayson Tatum

"I saw a guy go down and I've got my guy's back 10 times out of 10."

By Khari Thompson

April 23, 2024

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Jaylen Brown was the first player to confront Caleb Martin after Martin knocked Jayson Tatum to the ground with a hard foul in the final minute of the Celtics’ Game 1 win over the Heat on Sunday.

Brown and Kristaps Porzingis didn’t hesitate to get in Martin’s face. Knowing the Heat’s reputation for questionable tactics during games, Brown said he wanted to ensure that nothing shady would happen.

“I just told him to watch that, you know, making sure that it’s basketball plays being made out there,” Brown said.

“We know they like to play hard and be physical but there’s a line, so just making sure we’re not compromising the integrity of the game,” Brown added. “I just told him to watch it, at the time you can’t tell all the components from what I’ve seen but that’s all I did was just let him know that.”

Fortunately for the Celtics, Tatum didn’t get hurt on the play. Tatum said he felt fine after the game, and coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum participated in practice like normal on Tuesday.

Brown said he didn’t think it was a dirty play, but couldn’t be sure in the moment, so he decided to look out for Tatum anyway.

“I saw a guy go down and I’ve got my guy’s back 10 times out of 10,” Brown said. “You couldn’t tell what’s what in the heat of the moment, but it looked like something a little extra so I said something. It looked like it was just basketball, it wasn’t intentional so we keep moving. JT gets up, goes to the other side and knocks down two free throws.”

Brown said the Celtics are embracing the physicality and chippiness more now than they’ve ever had during his time on the team.

“That’s what it’s about, you know what I mean?” Brown said. “You’ve got to entertain the shenanigans but at the same time, we’re not going for nothing extra this series. Just be professional. We’re doing our job and making sure that we’ve got each other’s back.”

There wasn’t much to talk about with Tatum after the play, Brown said. That kind of physicality is expected from Miami. The Celtics are familiar with it, having faced Miami in the playoffs four of the last five years. Now, it’s about how they handle it.

“Every game is a fight. You’ve got to win the game and win the fight,” Brown said. “Both of those things are important and we embrace both, being the smarter team but also being the team doing the job on the floor and being able to set the tone physically and not back down.”