Jaylen Brown calls out ‘flat’ Celtics after deflating loss to Lakers

Celtics

“They just had more energy than us tonight. We were flat and you could see it.”

The Celtics lost a forgettable contest to their rival Lakers on Thursday night. 

Boston’s 117-96 defeat matched its worst loss of the season, which came on the second night of a back-to-back. It showed.

Thursday also marked the Celtics’ fifth game played in seven days, making for an exhausted group of players in green.

Jaylen Brown scored 17 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds one night after rolling his ankle against an overtime victory to the Clippers.

Brown called out Boston for playing “flat” against Los Angeles, who he said showed more vitality than his team in the nationally televised matchup.

“You can give them credit, but I just think we came out flat. We just kinda looked tired,” he told reporters after the game (via NBC Sports Boston). “Maybe you could say it’s just the game from last night going into overtime carried over, but on both sides of the floor, they just had more energy than us. … It just wasn’t there tonight.”

Meanwhile, when asked if he was feeling tired, Jayson Tatum stated that he didn’t feel any fatigue coming off the prior night’s OT frame.

“No,” Tatum replied. “I mean, it’s tough. But it’s part of the job, play overtime, play back-to-backs. Sometimes you gotta travel. So no excuses.”

Tatum had a quiet night, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, and five assists. He was named an Eastern Conference All-Star starter earlier on Thursday.

Noting the teams’ historic rivalry, Brown said he wished the game hadn’t fallen on the back end of consecutive contests for Boston. He did, however, echo Tatum’s sentiments about not making excuses regarding their brutal schedule as of late.

“It is tough. Lakers-Celtics is one of the biggest matchups. Ideally, you wouldn’t want that to be on the back of a back-to-back and coming off of a overtime game,” Brown said. ”But, you know, it is what it is. We not making any excuses. They just had more energy than us tonight. We were flat and you could see it.”

Luckily, the Celtics will be able to redeem themselves against the Lakers at home on March 8. Plus, both teams have the day off before the rematch.

Speaking personally, Brown spoke about how his ankle felt against the Lakers after he rolled it the previous night versus the Clippers.

“It was alright,” he said of his injured ankle. “I’m still trying to get my burst and my explosion back. I didn’t finish a lot of baskets around the rim. Just because it’s messing with me a little bit. It’ll get there.”

Brown explained that he rolled the same ankle against the Hawks last weekend. He played through his latest ailment on Wednesday and played 33 minutes on Thursday.

“I’ve been just a little bit banged up, but just pushing through,” Brown said. “Tonight wasn’t a great showing for our team energy-wise. I missed a lot of baskets around the rim, and our team needs me to make those. So I gotta produce for my team.”