Jaylen Brown is upset about Giannis Antetokounmpo's wrong handshake

MILWAUKEE – Celtics guard Jaylen Brown took a fake handshake from Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in the second quarter of Boston's 113-107 win on Sunday.

Antetokounmpo offered his hand to Brown after he was whistled for an offensive foul, but he withdrew it and ran his hand through his hair when Brown reached out to accept it. Antetokounmpo laughed and smiled at the gesture before extending his hand again.

This time Brown didn't accept it and shook his head on the court.

“Giannis is a kid,” Brown said after the game. “I'm just focused on helping my team win. And we managed to do that tonight.”

“We always joke about the flow of the game. This is something I do with my kids, I play around. It's me. I play the game with fun and joy.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo fakes his handshake with the Celtics' Jaylen Brown

Antetokounmpo was surprised to hear Brown's reaction after the game, emphasizing that he was just joking and has joked with Brown on the court in the past.

“We always joke about the flow of the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is something I do with my kids, I play around.

“It's me. I play the game with fun and joy.”

Later, in the fourth quarter, Brown was called for a flagrant foul on Antetokounmpo after challenging him in the air while Antetokounmpo was driving to the basket. The game official deemed the contact excessive and unnecessary, resulting in it being ruled flagrant, but Brown said the play was neither intentional nor a reaction to the incorrect handshake early in the game.

Brown returned Sunday after a four-game absence due to a left hip flexor strain.

The Celtics and Bucks have competed at the top of the Eastern Conference in recent years, with Brown and Antetokounmpo starring for their respective teams. They met in the playoffs in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

Antetokounmpo continued to speak highly of Brown after the game.

“I think he's an incredible player,” said Antetokounmpo, who finished the game with 42 points and 13 rebounds. “I’m just going to continue to be myself. And if at the end of the day I’m called a child, so be it.”

“I just try to go out and have fun. But again: [he is a] great player, great competitor. If I have another opportunity I will do it again.

The Bucks jumped out to a 17-point lead in the first half behind Antetokounmpo's 19 points in the first quarter, his highest-scoring quarter this season. However, Milwaukee couldn't maintain that lead as the Bucks fell to 2-8 on the season, their worst start in 10 games since Antetokounmpo's rookie season.

On Sunday, the Bucks blew a 15-point lead for the second time this season, joining the Miami Heat as the only teams to do so multiple times this season.

“We can’t hold on,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “The Cleveland game [also]“We played like gangbusters and as the game went on we just didn’t hold up our game.”

The Bucks have an important stretch ahead of them as seven of their next nine games will be played at home. Of those nine games, only two came against teams — Indiana and Miami — that made the playoffs last season.

“It’s frustrating,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said. “We think we should have a better balance sheet, but there are also a lot of positives. We have to keep going and keep working on it. I think the most important thing is that we know that we don't have people who have done this. “Nobody is going to stop here.