Hoops pundits continue to debate whether stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can co-exist on the Boston Celtics. And while the jury may still be out on that particular issue, one thing was made crystal clear on Saturday — the two definitely can’t occupy the same space at the same time.
At least not without Brown losing a tooth.
With just under two minutes left during the first quarter of the Beantowners’ Christmas Day loss to the Bucks, Tatum and Brown both attempted to corral the ball after a Bobby Portis missed jumper. Despite their efforts, it was Juancho Hernangomez who ultimately came away with the rebound.
Along the way, Tatum caught Brown with an elbow to the mouth. That contact resulted in one of the latter’s front teeth being chipped right in half.
Brown Leaves It All on the Floor
At the time of the collision, Brown had put up 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting while adding three assists. Consequently, the Celtics were able to build a double-digit lead on the defending NBA champions. After getting hit, though, he was forced to head to the locker room.
While he returned to the hardwood shortly thereafter, his game didn’t follow suit. From that point forward, Bross missed nine of 11 shots from the floor and committed three turnovers without logging another assist. Meanwhile, his team-high plus-15 mark became a team-low minus-15.
And, by night’s end, a 19-point second-quarter lead for Boston had devolved into a 117-113 loss.
After the game, Brown took to social media to lament the incident that left him with half a tooth. The 2021 All-Star tagged Tatum in a quote tweet featuring footage of the collision which read, “It be ya own people.” He also added a facepalming emoji for good measure.
Responded Tatum:
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Fans Rip the Celtics for the Loss
While Brown was focused on the loss of one of his central incisors in the tweet, many of the fans who commented on it had other concerns. For them, the story of the day was the Celtics’ epic collapse, which resulted in the club falling below the .500 mark (once again) at 16-17.
“Are you not mad you blew the third 19 point lead of the season?” wondered one fan.
“If this ain’t symbolic of the Celtics current situation I don’t what is,” added a second commenter.
“Why doesn’t this team care more about winning a game than jumping on social media — they need to learn from KG what a winner looks like,” opined a third fan.
Others were more supportive of Brown and his teammates.
“Ppl in these replies acting like they own the team,” wrote a fourth commenter. “Like bro actually chipped his tooth but can’t joke about it just cause they lost??”
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Celtics Star Loses More Than Just a Game on Christmas Day