Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was fined $35,000 by the league for “aggressively pursuing and directing inappropriate language toward a game official,” after Boston’s 117-108 loss to the Chicago Bulls Thursday night.
Mazzulla’s actions took place following the final buzzer of the game. As players were exiting the floor, Mazzulla could be seen trying to confront one of the game officials, pointing at him and yelling. He had to be held back by members of the Celtics staff as well as players. Mazzulla eventually left the floor, but it was enough to get a fine from the league.
Mazulla took exception with the officiating throughout the game, but primarily in the fourth quarter. There was a play where, after a missed 3-pointer by Jayson Tatum, Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu, as well as Celtics players Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown, chased down the loose ball. During that sequence a jump ball was called by the officials, and it was decided that Pritchard and Dosunmu would be the two players who would do the jump ball. However, Mazzulla disagreed and thought it should be Brown instead of Pritchard. The officials disagreed, and Mazzulla and Brown were assessed technical fouls for arguing with the referees.
Shortly after that interaction, Jayson Tatum was given a technical foul after committing a foul on Chicago’s Coby White.
After the game, when Mazzulla was asked about the incident with the official, he delivered a sarcastic remark.
“I hadn’t seen him in a while. So, just a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday… can’t let a moment go by where you don’t wish the best to them and theirs,” Mazzulla said.
But Brown was more blunt in his response to the officiating and the technical fouls, calling it “bullshit.”
“I got fined a couple weeks ago for inadvertent gestures that are determined to not be a part of the game, which was fine,” Brown said. “I took the fine. But what part of the game is a ref calling an inadvertent technical foul? 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.’ [I said again], ‘You called a tech for no reason.’ Then he called the tech. Like, 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. Like, that’s some bullshit.”
“We were down three at that time — on the jump ball,” Brown continued. “Then that led to us being down eight. That affects the game. That could have been avoided. Joe didn’t say anything to deserve a tech. And then when I come to you and say, ‘You’re getting 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 just called a tech for no reason,’ and you say, ‘If you say it again, I’ll call another tech.’ Then I say it again, and you call a tech. You just threatened your whistle as a threat. Like, that’s not part of the game either. And I think it’s bullshit.”
Though the Celtics disagreed with the officiating, it certainly impacted how they played over the remainder of the fourth quarter, causing them to drop what should have been a very winnable game to a rebuilding Bulls team. Fortunately for Boston, they’ll have another shot at the Bulls, as they play them again Saturday night in Chicago.
