Jaylen Brown Called His Defense On OG Anunoby’s Buzzer-Beater ‘A F*cking Disgrace’

Backed into a corner with a 2-0 series deficit, the Toronto Raptors had only 0.5 seconds to effectively save their season. On cue, Nick Nurse drew up a beautiful play and, when OG Anunoby buried a game-winning three-pointer over the outstretched arms of Jaylen Brown, the Raptors picked up a win to climb back into the series against the Boston Celtics.

While no game swings on one play (and there is plenty to examine from Game 3), Brown expressed considerable frustration after the game when prompted on what transpired.

“We gotta be better than that,” Brown said. “We gotta communicate better. Just me, being four years in, I gotta be better. Can’t give up a three at the end of the game. They made a remarkable shot still. But it’s a f*cking disgrace. It’s terrible. There is no excuse for it at all. It was ridiculous. You can’t take your foot off the gas at all. We gotta be ready to play Game 4.”

Brown recovered in time to make a reasonable contest on Anunoby but, at the same time, the fact that Anunoby was able to get open for the game-winner (with a two-point deficit) is undoubtedly frustrating for anyone on the Celtics side. That apparently goes for Brown, who didn’t hold back in this instance, and his comments came on a night in which he scored 19 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and played outstanding overall defense against Pascal Siakam and others.

It will be exceedingly interesting to see how both teams respond to the ending of Game 3. The Raptors could be invigorated by their new life in the series, while the Celtics could, at least in theory, let this slip impact their play moving forward. Still, Brown made it abundantly clear there is “no excuse” for the way the game ended, and Game 4 looms on Saturday.