Bruce Brown will have a target on his back for the duration of the Boston Celtics’ series with the Brooklyn Nets.
And Kendrick Perkins has some advice for him: go ahead and back it up.
Brown was criticized by even his teammates for saying before the series that the Celtics not having Robert Williams would allow the Nets to go after Al Horford and Daniel Theis. Not only did that reveal a potential game plan, but it also was viewed by some as a sign of disrespect towards Horford, an established and well-respected veteran, and Theis, who is a plenty capable reserve big.
Game 1 set up the Celtics-Nets series to be one of the better first-round matchups in a long time. But in the C’s narrow win, Brown was a relative non-factor over 37 minutes as Kyrie Irving carried the Nets within seconds of a victory at TD Garden.
During the "NBA Today" podcast released Tuesday, Perkins, a former Celtic, took issue with the way Steve Nash managed his rotation in the loss. In doing so, he took a little jab at Brown.
“Leaving Andre Drummond in in the first half knowing he’s got three fouls with five minutes to go in the second quarter – why is he in the game? He was eating the glass up," Perkins said. "As soon as he left, Al Horford started doing whatever he wanted to do.
“By the way, Bruce Brown. You gonna talk some noise, brother, you might want to show up to work.”
Brown’s comments might not have been intended as the disrespectful dig they were taken as, but now he’s going to have to live with the reality that he irked Celtics fans and players alike.
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