Jaylen Brown calls out referees, Joel Embiid for flopping day after Celtics eliminated

One day after his Boston Celtics were eliminated on their home court in Game 7 by the Philadelphia 76ers, Jaylen Brown went on his Twitch stream and called out both Joel Embiid as a flopper and the referees for being biased.

"Flopping has ruined our game. Joel Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in f****** basketball history... [he] flops. He know it. This ain't breaking news."

Playing in four games in the series, Embiid had 37 free throw attempts, a little more than nine a game. He had more total attempts from the stripe than any other 76ers player and everyone on Boston except Brown, who played in all seven games. That alone is not evidence of flopping, it's evidence of Embiid playing a physical style in the paint and attacking the rim with the ball, which leads to drawing fouls.

Brown called out the referees, too, particularly about the offensive foul calls against him, usually for using his off arm to create space (which he did pretty blatantly at times). Brown said on the Twitch stream that he was doing what every other player in the league does.

"That is such the common basketball play, every player does it. So why are you targeting me? They clearly had an agenda, maybe because I spoke, you know I was critical other refs in the regular season... And I've actually spoke to some refs, and they said it was, it was an agenda going into each game, that anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it like But Paul George does the same thing. Jalen Brunson does the same thing. S***, I can go down the list. It's a basketball play."

Brown can expect a fine from the league for that. I would also argue that while a lot of drivers do use their off arm at times, Brown uses his off arm more forcefully — and often — than others to create space.