When Kevin Durant scolded Bruce Brown for comments on Boston’s bigs: “That’s caffeine pride talking”

Back in April, Kevin Durant scolded his former teammate Bruce Brown for making unnecessary comments. The incident took place after the Brooklyn Nets clinched the seventh spot in the 2022 NBA Playoffs after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Play-In Tournament. Being placed seventh meant they had to face the second seed in the East, the Boston Celtics.

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Kevin Durant wants to focus on Basketball rather than talking trash

According to ESPN, Bruce Brown shared his thoughts on what he thought would be the key to the Brooklyn Nets' success coming into the series. Things went smoothly when he mentioned that their team needed to keep Jayson Tatum under 50 points. But then Brown called out the Celtics for having a weak interior since they didn't have Robert Williams at the time.

"We can't let Tatum get 50," Brown said. "We got to be physical with them. Now they don't have Robert Williams, so they have less of a presence in the paint, and we could attack Al Horford and Theis. So them not having Robert Williams is huge."

While it was great that Brown was giving off an enthusiastic vibe, Kevin Durant didn't appreciate what he had to say.

Kevin Durant has played in the league long enough to understand that it is not a good idea to provide an opponent with more motivation before the series commences. Just like how the Phoenix Suns disrespected Luka Doncic and then got beat by the Dallas Mavericks in their 2022 series matchup. The heat of the moment only fired up Doncic to lead his team to the Western Conference Finals.

When it was KD's turn to be interviewed, he immediately apologized for his teammate's remarks. He backed it up by saying that it was only Brown's pride talk, which is why he was inclined to say such things. Durant then followed it up by showing their opponents respect and saying that everyone should just focus on playing basketball.

"That's caffeine pride talking," Durant said. "We respect our opponents. We don't need to talk about what we're going to do to them. I just don't like that, but that's how Bruce is. He comes in and keeps the same energy throughout the whole season. But we don't need to say sh*t like that. Let's just go out there and hoop."

Ultimately, the Boston Celtics ended up sweeping the Brooklyn Nets. Despite the loss, Kevin Durant still managed to perform efficiently for the Nets. He averaged 26.3 points, 6.3 assists, and 5.8 rebounds against the Celtics in the first round.