Jaylen Brown Calls Out 'Click Bait,' Compares It to Flopping After Comments on Celtics' Playoff Exit

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown pushed back Tuesday following widespread reaction to his comments about Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, flopping and the officiating during his team's first-round playoff exit.

In a post on social media, Brown compared "click bait" to flopping:

The Celtics lost to the 76ers in seven games in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, capped by a 109-100 defeat on Saturday.

One day later, Brown had this to say on his live stream, per ESPN.

"Joel Embiid is a great player. One of the best bigs in basketball history. [But he] flops. He know it," Brown said. "This ain't breaking news. It is what it is."

moves celtics need to make

01:15

Brown just had an incredible season, averaging 28.7 points on 47.7 percent shooting, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He helped lead the Celtics to a 56-26 record, a remarkable feat considering fellow star Jayson Tatum only played 16 contests after missing nearly the entire season with a torn Achilles suffered last May.

Brown said on a stream that this season was his favorite so far.

Brown added 25.7 PPG and 5.7 RPG in the playoffs. It looked as though Boston would cruise to the second round after taking a 3-1 lead. However, they lost their next three games by a combined 38 points en route to an early playoff exit for the No. 7 seed.

The 10-year veteran wasn't particularly happy with how the series was officiated, per comments on the Twitch stream. He showed a play where 76ers forward Paul George appeared to slightly push off and did not get called for an offensive foul.

"If you're going to call push-offs, call that," Brown said. "Same move. Same refs. Oh, it's nothing? It's play on, right?

"But you gonna call me? Everybody does it ... but if it would have been me, it'd have been an offensive foul."

Brown was fined $50,000 for his remarks.

Per ESPN, Brown was called for 10 offensive fouls, or twice as many as any other player in the first round.

Needless to say, it's understandable that Brown may not be thrilled, especially after a tough loss. He still had a great season, though, even if the ending wasn't ideal.