Jaylen Brown was recently slapped with a $35,000 fine by the NBA for his criticism of the officiating following the Boston Celtics 100-95 loss against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, and the former Finals MVP said he doesn’t mind paying the fine.
Even after being fined by the league, Brown continued to comment on the poor officiating, calling for consistency, especially since the Boston Celtics go to the free-throw line less than any other team at 18.7 attempts and 14.8 makes per game.
“I think something had to be said,” Brown told The Athletic’s Jay King. “As a team, we get to the free-throw line the least in the league. So just protecting our guys and myself. I think that we deserve a little bit more respect.”
“We come out and compete; we’re one of the top teams in the league… I do the same things that they do. They just pick and choose who they like to call it on. That’s the part that pisses me off,” he continued. “It should just be everybody should just get reffed evenly and consistently, but it just seems like there’s an agenda where some guys they choose to call certain fouls for, some guys they don’t.”
Boston Celtics News: Joe Mazzulla gets vindicated in the league’s L2M report vs. Indiana Pacers
The Boston Celtics got another bad officiating break on Monday, as the referees didn’t call Pascal Siakam’s illegal screen on Derrick White ahead of his game-winning shot in the 98-96 victory.
Joe Mazzulla used the phrase “illegal screen” throughout his postgame press conference. In the league’s Last Two Minutes Report of the match, the NBA deemed it an incorrect non-call on Siakam.
“Siakam is late to establish a screening position in White’s path and does not give him the time or distance to change direction and avoid the contact during the pick,” the report wrote.
