MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo offered a handshake to Jaylen Brown after committing an offensive foul against the Boston Celtics wing — only to pull his hand back at the last moment.
The incident in the first half of the Celtics’ 113-107 victory over the Bucks on Sunday caused Brown to refer to Antetokounmpo as a “child.” Antetokounmpo responded that he was only joking around.
This sequence began after Antetokounmpo’s elbow appeared to inadvertently hit Brown’s face in the second quarter, resulting in an offensive foul against the two-time MVP.
As they headed back up the floor, Antetokounmpo held out his hand toward Brown, only to pull it back over the top of his face while smiling at him. Antetokounmpo then reached out his hand again, but the Celtics’ three-time All-Star looked down without reciprocating.
The scene got plenty of attention on social media.
“Giannis is a child,” said Brown, who scored 14 points in his return after missing four games with a hip injury. “I’m just focused on helping my team get a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Antetokounmpo said he didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“It’s a joke,” said Antetokounmpo, who had 43 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. “We’re playing basketball. At the same time, we’ve got to have fun when we play. I think he’s an incredible player. He does whatever he can to help his team win, an extremely competitive player. We’ve played against one another many times. I think we’re always trying to joke around within the flow of the game. It’s something I do with my kids when we play around. Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Give me a high-five. Oh, you’re too slow.’ I just did it. I enjoyed it, though. It was fun.”
When Antetokounmpo was told about Brown’s postgame comment, the 6-foot-11 forward went into more detail with his response.
“This is who I am,” Antetokounmpo said. “I play the game with fun, joy. I try to surround myself around young people so I can stay young myself, try to be around my kids a lot, my nieces, and sometimes I might go out there at times on the court when I play and do stuff like that, but at the end of the day, as I said, I think he’s an incredible player. He always does the right thing to help his team win. But I’m just going to continue to be me.
“At the end of the day, if I’m called a child, so be it. I have three children of my own and I think six nieces. I take care of a lot of kids around here. Sometimes when you’re around a kid, you try to act like a kid. It’s fun. It’s fun to be around them. So I just try to go out there and have fun. Again, great player, great competitor. If I have another opportunity, I’ll do it again.”
Antetokounmpo and Brown had another episode in the fourth quarter. After Antetokounmpo drove to the basket with the game tied at 95-all, Brown received a flagrant foul for making significant impact to an airborne player in an unnecessary manner.
Antetokounmpo made the two ensuing free throws to put Milwaukee ahead with 6:52 remaining, but the Bucks didn’t score on their ensuing possession and Boston took the lead for good a minute later.
Brown was asked if that second-quarter incident was on his mind when that flagrant foul occurred.
“Naw,” Brown replied. “I was playing basketball.”
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