Somehow, Giannis Antetokounmpo keeps finding ways to have his elbow connect with Jaylen Brown's upper body.
The last time the Bucks and Celtics met in Milwaukee, Antetokounmpo was whistled for an offensive foul after elbowing Brown.
As they walked back up the floor, Antetokounmpo pretended to offer Brown a handshake and pulled it back before Brown could reach. Brown called Antetokounmpo a "child" for his antics after the game.
On Friday night, Brown was whistled for a technical foul after Antetokounmpo hit him in the chest with an elbow early in the third quarter. Brown had scored on Antetokounmpo and did the "too little" celebration.
Antetokounmpo stuck his elbow out as Brown walked by. Then, after the ball was inbounded, Brown and Antetokounmpo ran into each other.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said the physicality helped ignite Brown's game. Brown poured in 25 points to go with three rebounds, three assists, and a block against one turnover.
"I thought the elbow to the face kind of 'unlocked' Jaylen a little bit," Mazzulla said. "I thought the technical was tremendous by Jaylen and I thought from then on in he just brought an edge to us and we were able to feed off of it."
The Celtics, who were up by four at the time of Brown's technical foul, basically played the Bucks to a draw for the rest of the quarter. They wound up winning by six.
Brown only scored two more baskets after his technical foul, but the momentum helped carry the Celtics to victory. Jayson Tatum led all scorers with a 34-point 10-rebound double-double.
Tatum paused for a beat when asked if he enjoyed the physicality of the matchup before smiling and saying "yeah."
"It's a fine line, right? As long as it's fair," Tatum said. "If they get to pull and grab and push us, we should be able to do the same. And if that's how it's going to be the whole game, then I have no problem with that at all. It's competitive. It's fun. It's part of it."
With Friday's 111-105 win, the Celtics swept the regular-season series against the Bucks. It was a physical, playoff-like matchup.
Al Horford said he liked that the refs let the two teams play with that level of physicality.
"Yeah, that's great. Two really good teams," Horford said. "Not all games are the same in the regular-season and this one had a little more to it. I was happy that they let us play."