Celtics’ Jaylen Brown gets painfully honest on Hack-a-Shaq on Andre Drummond, Bulls

Celtics star Jaylen Brown voiced his displeasure over the NBA In-Season Tournament format that utilizes point differential to break ties.

The Boston Celtics needed to demolish the Chicago Bulls by at least 23 points on Tuesday night in the final game of their NBA In-Season Tournament group stage journey so they could advance to the knockout stage by virtue of having a better point differential than the Orlando Magic. Thus, the Celtics kicked up a fuss when they decided to employ the infamous Hack-a-Shaq strategy on Andre Drummond, a career 47.6 percent shooter from the charity stripe, despite being up by 32 points in the fourth quarter.

In fact, it got to the point where Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had to explain to Billy Donovan midgame why they employed this tactic. The NBA In-Season Tournament got teams breaking unwritten rules of not running up the score, and it has clearly been frustrating to those on the losing end of things.

However, even those on the winning side aren’t exactly too pleased, with Celtics star Jaylen Brown voicing his displeasure over the NBA In-Season Tournament format that utilizes point differential to break ties in groups.

“That’s just not how the game is supposed to be played. One, you got to respect your opponents and two, weird setup. We understand the rules, but if I was [on] the other team, I would be upset as well if we were doing Hack-A-Drummond in the middle of the fourth quarter,” Brown said in his postgame presser, per CLNS Media via ClutchPoints Twitter.

"That's just not how the game is supposed to be played… I would be upset as well if we were doing Hack-A-Drummond in the middle of the fourth quarter."

Jaylen Brown on the tie-breakers in the NBA In-Season Tournament 🗣️

(via @CelticsCLNS)pic.twitter.com/GYbRoVoeII

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 29, 2023

Jaylen Brown isn’t exactly the biggest fan of the NBA In-Season Tournament. Not only did he express his general indifference over the tournament in the past, he also ranted about the safety (or lack thereof) of the specially designed court floors. At this point, the Celtics star understands why the league introduced the tournament, but he thinks that there may have to be tweaks to it moving forward.

“There’s a line between increasing excitement, revenue, notoriety and compromising ethics of the game. It’s a balance. This is the first [time] we’ve seen this. But I’m sure there’ll be a lot of conversations going around that’ll get to some decisions,” Brown added.

Nevertheless, the Celtics have already benefitted from the format, and now, it’s up to them to capitalize on the opportunity they have when they take on the Indiana Pacers on Monday night in the quarterfinals of the NBA In-Season Tournament.