"Thought he was Embiid and Ant": Jaylen Brown botches self-alley-oop pass, NBA Twitter roasts him with memes

Boston Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown tried to kick off Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets in style. However, Brown instead botched a potential highlight play, leading him to be ridiculed by NBA fans on X, formerly Twitter.

On the opening play of the game, Brown pump-faked Rockets wing Dillon Brooks at the free-throw line. He then attempted to throw an under-handed alley-oop pass to himself off the backboard.

Unfortunately for the 27-year-old, he threw the pass too hard, resulting in the ball flying over his head as he jumped for a one-handed finish.

Fans had fun with the lowlight as they roasted Brown with countless memes. Many also compared the play to stars Anthony Edwards and Joel Embiid’s similar plays from earlier this week.

Unlike Brown, Edwards and Embiid were able to complete their self-alley-oop dunks, leaving fans mocking the Celtics star for trying to copy them.

“Bro thought he was Embiid and Ant,” one fan said.

“To make it worse, the broadcaster said, ‘He tried to pull an Anthony Edwards,’” another said.

See below for a few more of the top fan reactions to Jaylen Brown’s failed self-alley-oop dunk attempt:

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Jaylen Brown breaks down his botched self-alley-oop pass against Houston

After Sunday’s game, in which Boston defeated Houston 116-107, Jaylen Brown was asked about his first-quarter blunder.

According to the two-time All-Star, he had been planning to attempt a self-alley-oop pass for a while. However, he didn’t have the stamina to get up and finish the play.

“It looked great in my head,” Brown said. “I’ve seen it, I’ve worked on it a little bit, and I just didn’t have the legs tonight. My legs were cooked. It looked great up here, though. But not so much in real life.”

Despite his off-night offensively, Brown recorded his third career triple-double, finishing with 13 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals on 42.9% shooting. Meanwhile, his teammate Kristaps Porzingis picked up the scoring slack, recording a game-high 32 points, six rebounds, five blocks and six 3-pointers on 52.4% shooting.

With the victory, the Celtics bounced back from their last-second 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday. That defeat marked their first home loss of the season.

Boston (33-10) remains the NBA’s top-ranked team. The Celtics will work to improve their league-best record when they take on the Dallas Mavericks (24-18) on Monday. The game marks the second of Boston’s three-game road trip.

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