Jaylen Brown spent the better part of two weeks listening to criticism after he called out foul-baiting tactics following the Boston Celtics’ heartbreaking 104-102 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 12.
The broadcast caught him yelling, "That's not basketball!" when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drew a call on Luka Garza in the third quarter. After the game, Brown lamented that players who "manipulate the game" get rewarded while those who play the right way get overlooked.
On Wednesday night at TD Garden, he returned the favor.
At the 7:32 mark in the fourth quarter, Brown drove at Gilgeous-Alexander before pulling up short. He then up-faked twice and got the Thunder guard to bite. That made Gilgeous Alexander collide with him as he drained a 12-foot jumper. Brown's antics were successful, and he made the free throw, giving the Celtics an 11-point lead (103-92).
Brown smiled gleefully at the result, fully aware he'd just beaten one of the league's most crafty foul-drawers at his own game.
Boston won 119-109, snapping the Thunder's 12-game winning streak. Brown finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, converting 12 of his 14 free-throw attempts.
"He got me last time we played them," Brown told reporters postgame. "He got me on the up-fake and I knew it was coming, and I still jumped forward. So I guess I was able to pay back." Fans were quick to recognize the ‘pay-back,’ and they made it known.
“Boy loaded the syringe with poison and gave Shai a dose of his own medicine,” one fan commented.
“Shai got shai’d,” another craftily chimed in.
“JB called SGA a foul baiter two weeks ago and now he’s pump faking him into the air with a smile on his face…the pettiness is ELITE,” one user posted with a clip of Brown’s previous comments.
“He did the signature SGA flop move,” one noted.
“THAT'S OUR MVP,” NBC Boston proudly declared.
"I couldn’t stop laughing," a fan probably said what many were feeling like.
Another user captured the moment on point, writing, “Jaylen Brown tried to stay serious but the ‘I cooked him’ smile leaked out.”
However, at this point, Brown's act of poetic justice looks like a one-night affair. Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in free throws made per game at 8.0 and sits third in attempts at 9. Brown, meanwhile, ranks 10th in makes at 6 per game.
If the Celtics star wants to catch SGA on the charity stripe leaderboard, he'll need a lot more nights like Wednesday. But for one evening, the self-proclaimed anti-foul-baiter proved he could flip the script when it mattered most.
