Skip to content
Sixers
Link copied to clipboard

Sixers coach Brett Brown not surprised by Game 1 upsets

Brown is also keeping the Black Lives Matter message alive during the playoffs.

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams (second from left) and Sixers coach Brett Brown (second from right) kneel with others during the national anthem before the start of a recent game.
Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams (second from left) and Sixers coach Brett Brown (second from right) kneel with others during the national anthem before the start of a recent game.Read moreAP

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Brett Brown wasn’t caught off guard by the top seeds, the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, losing their opening playoff games.

The Eastern Conference’s eighth-seeded Orlando Magic upset the Bucks in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series Tuesday afternoon. That night, the Lakers fell to the eighth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of that Western Conference series.

“I don’t for sure overreact,” the 76ers coach said Wednesday before his squad’s Game 2 matchup of the opening-round series with the Boston Celtics. “You learn quickly it’s just such a momentum thing to me, more than a game-by-game thing.

“I’ve seen series flip” after one game.

Brown said the atmosphere inside the bubble is a bit of a neutralizer. Under normal circumstances, the Lakers and Bucks would have hosted those games at their home arenas due to being the top seeds.

“I think, holistically, water seeks its level,” Brown said. “The best team will end up winning four games.”

Keeping the message alive

Brown has been outspoken about racial injustice since George Floyd, a Black man, was killed May 25 by since-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white.

The coach is a member of the National Basketball Coaches Association’s 11-member committee on racial injustice and reform that was established after Floyd’s death. On Wednesday, Brown donned a black T-shirt with “Coaches for Racial Justice” written in red lettering on the front.

On Aug. 12, Brown donned a black T-shirt depicting a Black person walking arm-in-arm with a white person. It was designed by the San Antonio Spurs’ Patty Mills, an Aboriginal Australian. Brown is keeping the Black Lives Matter message alive while in the bubble.