Sports

Jaylen Brown’s cross-up of Luka led to awkward scene in Mavs’ arena

Jaylen Brown’s cross-up of Luka led to awkward scene in Mavs’ arena originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Jumbotron operator at the American Airlines Center has some explaining to do.

In the second quarter of the Boston Celticsroad win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, Jaylen Brown dropped Mavs star with a filthy crossover then calmly sank the jump shot to complete a highlight-reel play.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly a highlight for Doncic, whose embarrassing tumble made the rounds on social media. But it also got extra play in his own building, as the Jumbotron showed a replay of Doncic’s defensive gaffe to the sellout crowd in Dallas.

That didn’t sit well with Mavs players Tim Hardaway Jr. and Markieff Morris, according to The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn.

Tim Hardaway Jr. and Markieff Morris both yelled at the JumboTron operator for showing the replay of Jaylen’s crossover on Doncic. “Are we home or are we away?” Hardaway angrily asked as he checked into the game. #Mavericks

— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 23, 2024

It’s a fair question from Hardaway: A home arena is supposed to hype up the crowd and celebrate its players, not show its superstar getting crossed into oblivion.

Even Brown couldn’t believe his cross-up of Doncic made its way to Mavs’ Jumbotron.

“Here? Nah, I didn’t notice that,” Brown said when asked if he saw the Jumbotron replay. “That’s crazy. Somebody needs to get fired if they did that. That’s crazy.”

“Somebody needs to get fired if they did that” 😂

Jaylen Brown had a great reaction when he found out the the Mavs showed a replay of his crossover on the jumbotron pic.twitter.com/mQLCmG4slo

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 23, 2024

Brown got the better of Doncic on both ends Monday night, dropping 34 points on 13 of 22 shooting — including 11 points on 5 of 9 shooting with Doncic as the primary defender — while helping limit the Mavs star to 12 of 30 shooting and 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

But while Brown won the matchup and earned the highlight, he wasn’t about to pile on Doncic.

“It’s basketball. You get in between the lines, a lot of stuff happens,” Brown told reporters. “Credit to him for attempting to play some sort of defense, but it was just me being aggressive, that was it. You could be on the other side of that at any point.”

As for Doncic? His tactic was to give Brown credit and keep it moving.

“I saw that video. I can’t lie, that was really nice,” Doncic said of Brown’s crossover, via Grant Afseth of DallasBasketball.com. “I was on the floor praying he didn’t make it, but he made it. I tried to do my best.”