Boston Celtics standout Jaylen Brown criticized the NBA officiating crew after their narrow 100-95 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs at home, during which the Celtics were awarded merely four free throws.
“I’m ready to take the fine at this stage,” said the 29-year-old, who is in the running for MVP, referencing the Spurs’ 14 out of 20 free throw performance.
Brown expressed his frustration further, saying, “Tonight was a load of nonsense. Sure, they play solid defense, but they’re not unbeatable. Someone should review the footage because this pattern repeats whenever we face top teams. It feels like they ignore obvious calls in our favor and then penalize us for minor infractions on the other end, and that’s incredibly irritating.”
The 2024 NBA Finals MVP even singled out a referee by name, Curtis Blair.
“Curtis and his crew were awful tonight,” Brown declared. “I’m not concerned about any fine they might impose.”
Jaylen Brown backs down Spurs rookie Dylan Harper in front of NBA official Nick Buchert
The NBA has a history of penalizing players for using offensive language in interviews. Recently, Suns guard Jalen Green incurred a $25,000 fine for swearing during a postgame interview with a teammate.
That figure, while enormous for many, is not likely to hurt an NBA star with more than $200 million in career earnings.
‘The fine is a teachers (sic) salary,’ a Knicks fan wrote on X. ‘This world isn’t real.’
Brown found more sympathy among Celtics fans, many of whom offered some version of: ‘He’s not wrong!’
Others pointed out that Boston’s overreliance on 3-point shooting can result in fewer trips to the charity stripe, although both the Celtics and Spurs hoisted 44 attempts from deep on Saturday.
‘When you shoot 60 threes a game, you tend to get less free throws than the other team,’ one critic wrote on X.
Boston averages 42.8 3-point attempts per game, which is more than every NBA team besides the Golden State Warriors.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla gives an earful to NBA official Jason Goldenberg on Saturday
Besides, as many fans pointed out online, Boston’s defense withered down the stretch as Spurs center Victor Wembanyama scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, including a game-sealing jumper with 19.2 seconds left.
De’Aaron Fox also finished with 21 points for the Spurs and Keldon Johnson added 18 points and 10 rebounds. San Antonio won its second straight after losing two in a row.
Derrick White led Boston with 29 points and Jaylen Brown had 27. The Celtics lost for just the third time in 12 games.
The game was tied at 84 before Baylor Scheierman’s corner 3-pointer pushed Boston ahead with just under seven minutes left. White followed with a driving basket before the Spurs went on a 9-2 spree, taking a 93-91 lead on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 2:14 left.
After Brown’s layup tied it, Wembanyama’s fadeaway jumper pushed San Antonio back in front with 1:33 to go.
Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs reaches a loose ball before Baylor Scheierman #55 of the Boston Celtics during the second half on Saturday at TD Garden
Brown was then stripped of the ball near midcourt by Fox, and Julian Champagnie converted a putback of his own miss to make it 97-93 with 41 seconds left.
Wembanyama’s left-wing jumper made it 99-95.
Playing his third straight game after missing a pair with a sore knee, Wembanyama didn’t score his first points until hitting a 3 from the top midway into the second quarter.
But he got going in the second half, scoring nine consecutive points for San Antonio midway into the third quarter, bringing the Spurs back from a nine-point deficit to tie it on his three-point play.
