Emotions flared during a preseason game between the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday when Celtics star Jaylen Brown shoved Grizzlies guard Vince Williams Jr. after a seemingly hard foul. Brown was driving to the basket and came across the lane when Williams grabbed him across the arms and to prevent the play from happening. Brown reacted and shoved Williams and the duo was separated by their respective teammates. Both players were assessed technical fouls.
The foul by Vince Williams was definitely a hard foul and Jaylen Brown was probably justified in his reaction, and it was a good decision by the officials to hand out double technical fouls to keep things from getting further out of control.
Williams has carved out a reputation in the NBA thus far as one of the league’s premier wing defensive players so it’s probably a good bet that he’ll continue the assignment on Brown even after the minor altercation.
But this season is going to be an interesting one for Brown as the Celtics have opted to move in a different direction in the wake of Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury last spring. Brown is going to be the focal point of the offense this season and he will likely see additional defensive pressure that he might be quite used to.
During the Celtics’ playoff run last season, Brown averaged 22.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 44.1 percent shooting from the field, 33.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 75.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line. The Celtics were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semifinals by the New York Knicks.
