Watch: Jaylen Brown and Bones Hyland almost square off after former fouls latter

The New Year starts off with a bang as Jaylen Brown and Bones Hyland come close to fighting during the Boston Celtics vs Denver Nuggets game on Sunday. With Brown reacting to some aggression from Hyland after the foul call, the Celtics guard responded by escalating the situation.

The Boston Celtics have been on a bit of a roll as of late. Having won four games consecutively, the Celtics are in a solid position as they top the Eastern Conference leaderboard.

A huge reason for this success has been the combined brilliance of the team's star duo. With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown playing off of each other beautifully, the Celtics have seen great output on both ends of the floor.

Jaylen Brown has been particularly impressive this season. Picking up on where he left off in the Finals, the guard has embraced the role of a two-way player and developed his game beautifully.

However, defenders also have to walk a very thin line when considering the intensity and foul calls. In this regard, it is very easy for players to get frustrated.

Brown has recently been involved in two different altercations. An earlier incident with Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo comes to mind. In that situation, Brown merely responded to Antetokounmpo, who threw an elbow into the former's back.

Similarly, the Celtics guard almost entered a scuffle with Denver Nuggets guard Bones Hyland. In the fourth quarter of the game between the two teams on Sunday, things escalated quickly following a foul call on Brown.

This seems like a relatively minor and common incident. However, following the whistle, Hyland shoved Brown to the ground to shake him off. As Hyland proceeded to walk away, the Celtics guard rose to respond.

The situation had to be broken up quickly after this point. With the two players jawing at each other, their teammates arrived in time to separate them from each other.

While a major altercation was avoided, the officials were forced to dish out double technical fouls to both players.

The foul was followed by several substitutions on both sides. However, a Bones Hyland three-pointer following the incident hurt Boston's chances of a comeback.

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Jaylen Brown comes alive in the fourth quarter

Following the incident with Hyland, Jaylen Brown took on the offensive load of the Boston Celtics on his shoulders. However, considering that the team were down by a significant margin prior to the delay of the game, he had a lot of ground to cover.

After Hyland's three-pointer, the Celtics managed to respond quickly with a three by Al Horford. This was followed by a much-needed tip from Marcus Smart. Hyland was subbed off for Bruce Brown to add rebounding integrity shortly after.

Following Hyland's departure, Jaylen Brown took over for a brief span of time. Scoring seven points in 2 minutes, Brown took over the steering wheel for the Boston Celtics.

However, his efforts were for naught. With a huge margin to cover, Boston threw in the towel with about two minutes left on the clock. Notching their first loss in five games, Boston will hope to bounce back from their 123-111 outing in Colorado soon.