Jaylen Brown says Draymond Green tried to ‘pull my pants down’ in the midst of second quarter scuffle

SAN FRANCISCO — Jaylen Brown didn’t like what Draymond Green did, but admitted it was effective in Game 2 as the Warriors evened the series with a 107-88 win over the Celtics, Sunday at the Chase Center.

Green opened the game by tying up Al Horford and was physical throughout. But the most notable moment came late in the third quarter.

Green ran Brown over on the 3-point try late in the second quarter leaving the two players tangled on the floor. Green’s feet were at least close to Brown’s face initially. When Brown sat up, Green shoved him from behind.

Brown bounced up angrily and got into the Warrior big man’s face. Officials and teammates from both sides quickly got between them. The Warriors held their breath as the officials reviewed the tape. Green already had a previous technical foul. If the officials called double techs — a common response in similar situations — Green would have been ejected.

Brown said he didn’t realize those potential consequences in the moment.

“No, not really. I’m just trying to play basketball. I feel like that was an illegal play. I feel like they could have called it, but they let it go in terms of a technical either way. But I don’t know what I was supposed to do there,” Brown said. “Somebody got their legs on the top of your head and then he tried to pull my pants down. I don’t know what that was about.”

After reviewing the video, officials called nothing other than the initial common foul on Green, who stayed in the game and finished with 9 points, five rebounds and seven assists.

Brown said the incident didn’t affect him. But he struggled after it and made just two of three ensuing free throws and had just two more points the rest of the way and finished with a 5-for-17 shooting night.

“Absolutely not. It’s the NBA Finals. You come to play basketball. I know what Draymond is going to do,” he said. “I know what he’s going to try to do. They switched the lineup. They tried to put him on me, be physical, muck the game up, pull me, grab me and overall raise the intensity. I feel like they got away with a lot of stuff tonight, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of the next game. All that stuff, the gimmicks, the tricks, we’ve just got to be the smarter team, be the more physical team. Look forward to just coming out and playing Celtic basketball.”

Brown said the Celtics have to answer.

“That’s what Draymond Green does. He’ll do whatever it takes to win,” Brown said. “He’ll pull you, he’ll grab you, he’ll try to muck the game up because that’s what he does for their team,” he said. “It’s nothing to be surprised about. Nothing I’m surprised about. He raised his physicality to try to stop us and we’ve got to raise ours. Looking forward to the challenge.”

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