Brown critical of 'Ray Lewis'-like foul on Tatum

Jaylen Brown had 25 points in the Boston Celtics‘ 124-109 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night, but he saved his biggest shots for after the game.

The star guard took issue with former teammate Grant Williams, who plowed into Jayson Tatum from the side as Tatum was dribbling near half court late in the fourth quarter. Tatum spilled to the ground. Brown then came in and jawed at Williams and the Hornets bench.

Tatum appeared upset as he got to his feet, but simply walked toward the foul line as officials reviewed the play. Williams was ejected for a flagrant foul 2 and could face a league suspension.

Asked if he thought Williams’ foul was unintentional, Brown didn’t hesitate with an answer.

“Like, what are we talking about? Y’all see the same play that I was seeing?” Brown told reporters in Charlotte. “He hit him like it was a football play. Like, Ray Lewis coming across the middle or something. It is what it is. Grant know better than that.”

Brown said there’s no place in the NBA for a foul like that and questioned why Williams, who was teammates with him and Tatum in Boston from 2019 to 2023, would commit it.

“I thought JT and Grant was friends. … I guess not,” Brown said.

Williams acknowledged it was a hard foul but said it wasn’t an intentional one.

“Not trying to hurt anybody. We all know that’s one of my closest friends in the league,” Williams told NBC Sports Boston.

“JB kind of escalated it, but I understand he’s trying to protect his teammate. But that’s [Tatum] my dog. No matter what I got his back. … No malice or any issue with that.”

Tatum, who scored a game-high 32 points, declined to speak to the media afterward.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla refused to place any blame directly on Williams.

“I’m glad that [Tatum] is fine,” he said. “What I liked the most is that he jumped right up and didn’t lay around. It didn’t faze him. He got right up, went to the free throw and did his business.”

The game didn’t calm down after the foul on Tatum, either. Moments later, LaMelo Ball fouled the Celtics star on a 3-point attempt and was assessed a flagrant for a dangerous foul. In the closing seconds, Hornets forward Miles Bridges was ejected.

“Teams like to send messages and try to set the tone and do all different type of stuff to try to either get us out of character or mess with our mind or make us feel like we solved or whatever the case is,” Brown said. “We’re not going for none of that. We’re not — that’s it. We’re just not going.”

The teams won’t have to wait long to see each other. They play again Saturday night, this time in Boston.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.