Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown get heated after forearm shove in Celtics win over Bucks

There is no love lost between the Celtics and Bucks after an epic showdown in last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals and that passion was on display in a heated altercation between Jaylen Brown and Giannis Antetokounmpo on Christmas Day.

The incident occurred with 3:41 remaining in the game as the Celtics were running away with a 139-118 victory over Milwaukee. Brown was defending Jrue Holiday on the play when Antetokounmpo ran to set a screen on the athletic wing. Brown fought hard through the screen and made contact with the Bucks forward’s midsection, bringing him down to the floor as Brown chased Holiday. Antetokounmpo immediately got up and threw a forearm at Brown from behind which led to the two likely All-Stars to get nose-to-nose and exchange words as Brown took issue with the unnecessary contact.

Officials immediately whistled the play dead following the exchange and gave Antetokounmpo a technical foul after a video review. Marcus Smart also was seen getting into it with the Bucks bench after Brown was shoved, particularly Thanasis Antetokunmpo in the midst of the altercation between their teammates.

The Celtics did well in limiting Antetokounmpo for much of the night as MVP candidate had an inefficient scoring night (27 points on 22 shot attempts) to go with nine rebounds in the double-digit loss for Milwaukee.

“I mean, we’re fortunate to have great matchups for him,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “And so between Al, Grant, Blake, Malcolm, Smart, you know, our whole team, really, we’re fortunate to have the ability to throw some different guys at him. And I thought we were just disciplined in our execution as far as 8-for-12 from the free throw line is solid and I thought transition was solid. But he’s a great player and you got to be disciplined the whole game against him.”

The Bucks pulled Antetokounmpo from the game after the technical foul but he was seen greeting Brown after the game. Boston and Milwaukee next face off in Milwaukee on February 14.

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