Less than 24 hours after the Boston Celtics were eliminated from the NBA playoffs, All-Star forward Jaylen Brown went live on his Twitch stream and sharply criticized Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid’s style of play while questioning the officiating that helped decide Game 7.
The seventh-seeded 76ers stunned the top-seeded Celtics with a 109-100 victory Saturday night in Boston, completing a historic comeback from a 3-1 series deficit. It marked Philadelphia’s first series win over Boston since 1982. Embiid led all scorers with 34 points, while Brown paced the Celtics with 33 in a game played without Jayson Tatum, who was sidelined by knee stiffness.
"Flopping has ruined our league. Joel Embiid is one of the greatest players that has played basketball, but he flops. He knows it too"
– Jaylen Brown
(h/t @rileysbetter )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 4, 2026
In his postgame news conference, Brown had already pointed to Embiid’s physicality and what he described as flopping. On Sunday’s stream, he went further, reviewing plays and expanding his critique of both Embiid and the referees.
“Flopping has ruined our league,” Brown said on the stream. “Joel Embiid is one of the greatest players that has played basketball, but he flops. He knows it too.”
Brown, who guarded Embiid for stretches of the series, said the 7-foot-2 center put constant pressure on Boston’s bigs and guards. “We didn’t really have an answer for him,” Brown said in the earlier comments that carried over into the stream discussion. “We tried a bunch of different things. He’s a big body. He also was flopping around. He got some extra calls and stuff like that, and they rewarded him for that, but that’s the league we’re in.”
During the stream, Brown continued his criticism of the officiating, suggesting some referees from the final three games of the series “need to be investigated” for what he called inconsistent or targeted calls. He reviewed Game 7 footage on stream, at one point clapping in apparent frustration while discussing specific plays and claiming he felt an “agenda” from officials.
Jaylen Brown GOES OFF on the NBA Refs and says they had an agenda against him throughout the Sixers vs Celtics series:
“They clearly had an agenda, maybe because I spoke so critical on them in the regular season”
“I actually spoke to some refs and they told me there’s an agenda… pic.twitter.com/LcdgEt4IQn
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) May 4, 2026
Brown stopped short of fully excusing Boston’s collapse after holding a commanding series lead. He acknowledged Embiid’s skill and the physical toll of defending him but maintained that flopping influenced the outcome.
The Celtics, who entered the postseason as heavy favorites in the East, now face an offseason of questions after their earliest exit in years. Coach Joe Mazzulla called the series “a learning experience” for a team that dominated the regular season but couldn’t close it out.
Brown’s comments quickly drew reactions across social media, with some fans and analysts noting that flopping remains a league-wide issue while others pointed out instances of Brown himself drawing questionable calls earlier in the series.
The 76ers advance to face the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Brown’s stream offered no timeline for when — or if — he plans to address the loss again.
