Celtics' Jaylen Brown Slams Officials Following Loss to Bulls

Matt Levine | 7 Hours Ago

David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics dropped a rare game at home on Thursday night to the Chicago Bulls. It was an uncharacteristic game for Boston and one that nobody saw coming.

But it wasn't just the loss that was odd about the contest. Boston seemed to lose their cool throughout the game, with the aim being pointed toward the officials.

Both players and coaches seemed to go after the refs once the game ended. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who was heated during the game, seemed to take the high road.

But star forward Jaylen Brown went in the opposite direction. Brown believed that the refs were wrong on multiple occasions and took it out on them after the contest.

“Here’s the thing,” Brown said. “You get fined — I got fined a couple weeks ago for inadvertent gestures that were determined not a part of the game, which was fine. I took the fine. But what part of the game is the ref calling an inadvertent technical foul? And then I said to him, ‘You called a tech for no reason.’ He said, ‘If you say it to me again, I’m gonna call another tech.’ And then he called a tech. Man, get out of here. You can’t threaten guys with a technical foul. That’s not part of the game either. You want to fine people for gestures and all this stuff, fine that. This is some bulls—.”

Brown has never been one to shy away from what he is feeling and he let the refs hear it after the fact. The star even alluded to the officiating leading to the Celtics losing the game.

“We were down three at the time at the jump ball and that led to us being down eight and that affects the game,” Brown said. “That could have been avoided. Joe didn’t say anything to deserve a tech. And when I come to you and say you’re giving a tech for no reason, as a captain before the game, I come and shake all the refs’ hands because I speak for my team. I’m allowed to talk. So when I tell you you called a tech for no reason and you say, ‘If you say it again, I’m calling another tech,’ then I say it again and you call a tech, you just threatened your whistle as a threat. Like, that’s not a part of the game either.”

While the refs didn't cost Boston the game, they certainly didn't help. But the Celtics didn't play very well and in the end, that is what mattered in this one.

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