MIAMI — Celtics forward Jaylen Brown has consistently voiced his frustrations with perceived officiating inconsistencies this season. The agitation reached a boiling point after Saturday night’s loss to the Spurs in which Brown did not attempt a free throw, and his team took just four.
During a lengthy, expletive-filled rant, Brown called out crew chief Curtis Blair by name and dared the NBA to fine him. The league obliged, slapping Brown with a hefty $35,000 penalty, $10,000 more than milder offenders generally receive.
On Wednesday afternoon, speaking publicly for the first time since, Brown offered a sheepish grin.
“Ask and you shall receive,” he said.
Brown then spent several minutes offering insight into how he believes the Celtics are being treated unfairly by officials, as well as his own quest to understand their approach, including personal study sessions. His tone was more measured than it was Saturday night, but he reiterated similar themes.
“As a team, we get to the free throw line the least in the league,” Brown said. “So, just protecting our guys and myself. I think we deserve a little bit more respect. I think the analytics show that our team is dead last. And it feels like inconsistencies, as well. So, hopefully they put some time in and review it. But I feel like defenders and stuff are getting away with a lot and it makes my job a lot harder.”
The Celtics are averaging a league-low 18.7 free throws per game, two fewer than the 29th-place Bucks. Of course, the perceived shortage is due in part to the Celtics’ playing style. Boston is attempting 42.6 3-pointers per game, second-most in the NBA.
During their 2023-24 championship season, Boston attempted 20.2 free throws per game, which would also rank last this season.
“We’re a good enough team that if we just play through it, we’ll beat 50 percent of the teams that are out there just because we play better basketball, we’re in the right place, we’re smarter,” Brown said. “But when you play really good teams, that makes it tough.”
Brown said he has brought up the issue to the NBA players’ union, as well as the league office. He also has tried to become more educated. He has studied the officials’ rule book to have a better idea of what they are looking for when they do or don’t call fouls. He has researched where each official is supposed to be located as a play unfolds, so he has a better idea where to direct his questions.
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He said he also has studied NBA players who draw the most fouls, in search of clues that could help him unlock that area of his game. But that approach has mostly led to dead ends.
“I do the same things that they do,” Brown said. “They just pick and choose who they like to call it on. That’s the part that [ticks] me off. 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.”
Brown sat out Monday’s loss to the Pacers because of back spasms, so there was nothing really to grumble about. But coach Joe Mazzulla coyly expressed his own gripes.
He started his postgame news conference within minutes of the final buzzer — about 10 minutes earlier than usual — and answered every question by simply saying, “Illegal screen.”
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He was referring to Pacers forward Pascal Siakam’s screen of Derrick White moments before Siakam bullied his way into the lane and hit the winning shot off the glass. On Tuesday, the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report acknowledged that the officials had missed that call.
On Wednesday, a more talkative Mazzulla said that if giving short answers to questions is viewed as a sign of frustration, then he is “in good shape,” and he pointed out that the Celtics are not among the league leaders in technical fouls. He said they simply must ensure that they are not in positions where one bad call could cost them a win.
“When you’re in close games, there’s so much variance at the end of a game, whether it’s from shot-making, whether it’s from decision-making,” Mazzulla said. “We’ve got to do a better job controlling all those to stay out of those situations.”
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