Jaylen Brown literally bled out for the Celtics Sunday in their incredible buzzer-beater win over the Nets. Too bad Jeff Van Gundy wasn't impressed.
Late in the fourth quarter, Brown was defending Kyrie Irving on an inbound pass, and the mercurial guard elbowed him in the nose. The shot sent Brown stumbling to the parquet, and he immediately started bleeding profusely from both of his nostrils. During the next stoppage in play — when the officials called a ticky-tack foul on Al Horford sending Nic Claxton to the line — Brown went to the Celtics sideline and got his nostrils stuffed to stop the bleeding.
That image prompted the TNT crew to show a replay of Irving's elbow, to which Van Gundy responded unsympathetically. "That's nothing!," he said upon reviewing the action.
Now, it's true that Van Gundy saw his share of physical playoff bouts as head coach of the Knicks, who played brutal postseason series against the Bulls and Heat throughout the 90s. This Celtics-Nets matchup promises to be just as taxing.
But still, it's hard to fathom how somebody could look at Brown bleeding from his nose, and dismiss it as nothing special. Interestingly enough, the referees didn't seem to be moved, either. They didn't call Irving for a foul, despite constantly blowing their whistles.
To Brown's credit, he quickly returned to the floor, and wound up driving to the hole and scoring to bring the Celtics within one in the game's final moments. All afternoon long, Brown played tenacious defense on Kevin Durant, and added 23 points. His bleeding nostrils only added to his performance.
