Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown unloaded on the officials following a 100-95 home defeat to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, citing a wide free-throw gap and what he called inconsistent whistles.
“I’ll accept the fine at this point,” Brown told reporters, identifying crew chief Curtis Blair by name. “I thought it was some bulls*** tonight. They’re a good defensive team, but they ain’t that damn good. The inconsistency is crazy.”
Boston attempted just four free throws, compared with San Antonio’s 20. Brown, who drew none of those attempts, said the trend surfaces “every time we play a good team,” adding, “They refuse to make a call, then call touch fouls on the other end… I don’t flop. Zero free throws tonight.”
San Antonio converted 14 of 20 from the line, while Boston finished 3 of 4. Two of Boston’s attempts came from Derrick White in the final minute. “If we can’t get to the free-throw line and teams are allowed to bump us off our spots, it’s hard to win games like that,” Brown said. “We lost by five and shot four free throws.”
Head coach Joe Mazzulla refrained from criticizing the officiating, instead pointing to his team’s defensive habits. “We have to be better defending without fouling,” Mazzulla said. “There are four or five fouls we can control. We’ve got to clean that up.”
Brown closed with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists but went 1-for-9 in the fourth quarter. He missed a wide-open three-pointer with Boston trailing by two and was later stripped by De’Aaron Fox, leading to a Julian Champagnie layup that sealed the game. “A few possessions got away from us,” Brown said. “That’s on me too.”
Source: Hoops Wire
