Scheduled
2026-27 · Regular season
Mikel Brown Jr. forces overtime with a late three, then blames himself after Tatum’s winner: ‘I take full accountability’
The Nets rookie scored 16 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime in Boston, but missed two late layups and said he blew the switch on Jayson Tatum's game-winner. Jordi Fernandez explained the final defensive play.
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Mikel Brown Jr. scored 16 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime on Tuesday night, including the three that sent the Brooklyn Nets to overtime in Boston. He also missed two layups in the final seconds of overtime, and the Boston Celtics won 125-124 on a Jayson Tatum buzzer-beater. After the game, the Nets rookie put the loss on himself.
“I mean, it’s just a broken play. I blame me. We wasn’t supposed to switch that, and I switched it,” Brown said of Tatum’s game-winner. “Made a couple mistakes down the stretch. You know, that kind of hurt us, so I’m gonna take the blame on it, learn from it, you know, get prepared next game and don’t make the same mistake again.”
“I’m not gonna forget this night at all,” he said.
Brown’s full postgame interview, posted by the YES Network on X.
The tying three
The No. 6 pick out of Louisville came off the bench and played 28 minutes. He went 5-of-17 from the field and 4-of-11 from three, with five rebounds and five assists. He hit two threes from 26 feet early in the fourth quarter, and his driving layup with 44.9 seconds left tied the game at 111.
Boston led 117-114 when Brooklyn called timeout with 2.7 seconds left. Brown took a pass from Keon Ellis and hit a 23-foot three with one second to go to make it 117-117. “As a team we knew that, you know, we wanted a three. They knew that we wanted a three. So they’re trying to play bracket,” Brown said. “It was a great call by Jordi in the huddle.”
Brown’s game-tying three at the end of regulation, posted by the NBA on X.
He said Jordi Fernandez told him to be aggressive. “Jordi, you know, encouraged me to be aggressive like that and, you know, go make a play,” he said. “So, you know, once I heard that, you know, it was all green from there.”
Brown then hit a 32-foot three that put Brooklyn up 124-119 with 2:01 left in overtime. He missed his next three shots, all from deep, and Boston cut the lead to 124-123.
‘I take full accountability’
With 6.1 seconds left, Brown drove and missed a layup, but the Nets kept the ball after a successful challenge. On the next play he got into the lane again and missed another layup with 2.3 seconds to go, and Boston got the rebound.
“I did see the open lane, and I thought I had a layup, but the ball was kind of already slipping out of my hands, and PG was already coming towards my right side,” Brown said. “So I felt like if I didn’t go up with it, I kind of was gonna fall out of bounds. So that was my last resort, in all honesty, but I can’t make an excuse. There’s a lot of plays down the stretch that I messed up on, that I take full accountability of, and I’m gonna be better.”
Asked if the plan was to dribble out the clock, Brown said: “It was discussed to just try to get it in, and try to kill time. That definitely was discussed, but like I said, it’s just mistakes down the stretch that I just can’t make. I just can’t do that.”
On the last play, he said the plan was to keep Noah Clowney on Tatum. He said he got caught up because he did not know which way the play was going to go, and the Nets ended up switching. “Like I said, completely put the blame on myself,” he said. “It’s gonna be hard watching the film tonight.”
What Fernandez said
Fernandez explained the defense on that final play. “We’re not supposed to switch there because we wanted to keep a bigger body on him. We did switch,” he said. “… We wanted to maintain the matchup on Tatum with Noah Clowney because he’s big. And then Keon, who was on the ball, was supposed to track and contest that or help a little bit because we knew that most likely the shot was for him.”
Fernandez on the final defensive possession, posted by Erik Slater on X.
Fernandez said he kept Brown on the floor because he did not want to bring in players who had not played the whole game to guard that possession. “Also, he has to go through those other games and it’s important for him,” he said.
‘I set standards for myself’
Brown said Fernandez told him the loss was a team effort and not just on him. “But at the end of the day, I set standards for myself,” Brown said. “When it comes to that stuff, as a guard, time management, blowing coverages on the defensive end, that I just can’t have.” He said he would watch the film with the coaches, break it down and learn from it.
He also had a few threes rim out in overtime, and he said an uncle always told him that “some days the orange ball don’t want to go in the orange rim.” He said he takes it with a grain of salt and believes the next one will go in.
It was easily the best game so far for Brown, who had 6 points against Charlotte in his debut, 8 points and 5 assists at Cleveland, and then missed Sunday’s loss to Indiana with a left ankle issue. He is averaging 10.3 points in three games. Michael Porter Jr. led Brooklyn with 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Julius Randle had 24, but the Nets are 0-4.
Brooklyn hosts Detroit on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, which is 1:30 a.m. Saturday in Cairo after Egypt’s clocks go back an hour on Thursday night.
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