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Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown was very critical of the NBA In-Season Tournament court after nearly suffering a brutal injury on Friday night. Brown called out the league to ensure the safety of the players. He suffered a minor groin injury in the Celtics' 108-105 win over the Toronto Raptors.
In the video below, the Celtics were inbounding the ball toward the end of the game. Brown tried to shake off his defender but slipped on the court and grabbed his groin in pain. It was not the first time a player slipped on the new court design.
In his postgame press conference, Jaylen Brown called out the NBA for the "unacceptable" quality of the In-Season Tournament courts.
Brown, who is one of the NBAPA's vice presidents, wants the league to check the safety of the new courts and find out why it's slippery:
"I think I strained my groin a little bit," Brown said. "We'll see how it feels, but the court was slippery all game. I think as players we're all here for the In-Season Tournament because it's going to generate revenue, excitement, competition, but we've got to make sure the floor is safe to play on."
He added:
"We can't put our players out there and risk their health. Tonight, I thought the floor was unacceptable. I think guys were slipping all over the place, not just me."
As seen in the video above, Alex Caruso also slipped early in the first quarter on the Chicago Bulls' bright red In-Season Tournament court. It appears to be an issue that the league needs to take care of. There were multiple slips in the Celtics-Raptors game, as well as the Bulls-Magic matchup.
K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reported that Torrey Craig slipped four times during the Bulls' first game on their new court. Craig told him that he thought the issue was his shoes but later realized that the court was slippery.
Jaylen Brown leads Celtics past Raptors
Jaylen Brown had to pick up the slack for the Boston Celtics in their narrow 108-105 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. Brown ended the game with 23 points, three rebounds and four assists as Jayson Tatum struggled to score just 17 points on 8-for-22 shooting.
Brown might have been the best player of the game, but it was a team effort by the Celtics. Kristaps Porzingis had a double-double, while Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Derrick White and Sam Hauser all reached double-figures in scoring.
