The Boston Celtics fell two possessions short in one of their biggest games of the season thus far: a 100-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Notable in the defeat was a free throw discrepancy in which the Spurs made 10 more foul shots (14) than the Celtics even attempted (four). Celtics star Jaylen Brown took exception to the distribution of whistles in the loss and after the game unleashed a minute-and-a-half-long diatribe against the officials.
Brown, who scored 27 points but did not go to the charity stripe once, called out official Curtis Blair by name and lamented the “inconsistency” in the amount of contact allowed on the two ends of the floor.
“I’ll accept the fine at this point,” Brown said. “I thought it was some bulls—- tonight. I think they’re a good defensive team, but they ain’t that damn good. I hope somebody could just pull up the clips, because it’s the same s— every time we play a good team. It’s like, they refuse to make a call, and they call touch-fouls on the other end. That’s just extremely frustrating, bro.”
The foul totals themselves were not dramatically out of balance, as Boston was whistled 18 times to San Antonio’s 13. But the majority of the Celtics’ infractions sent the Spurs to the line, and their 20 free throw attempts were a factor in the game’s outcome. Brown himself was guilty of four fouls, which tied a game-high.
“We play hard,” Brown said. “We are outplaying our expectations. We compete hard on the defensive end. They reward the other team with touch-fouls, and we go down there and guys are allowed to get away with it. Somebody, please, pull it up. Every time we play a good team the inconsistency is crazy. I’ll take the f—-ing fine. Curtis (Blair), all them dudes, was terrible tonight. I don’t care; they can fine me whatever they want. It’s crazy. Every time we play a good team, it’s the same bulls—. Somebody, please, pull up the clips.”
The loss knocked the Celtics out of sole possession of the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference, as they now share the standing with the New York Knicks at an identical 24-14. Even with the defeat, Boston is in a much better position than the vast majority of prognosticators foresaw before the campaign.
Despite the absence of the injured Jayson Tatum and the flurry of offseason moves that sent key contributors out of town, the Celtics are squarely in the race for the East’s top seed.
“I’m irate at how they officiated the game today,” Brown said. “If we can’t get to the free throw line, and teams are allowed to be physical and bump us off our spots, et cetera, then it’s hard to win games like that. We shot four free throws tonight and lost the game by four. Not to say that’s the whole game, the whole story. We gotta be better in spots. But g–damn, like, I’m driving to the basket, I’m physical, I don’t flop, I don’t shy away from contact, I go up strong, I’m athletic, and nothing. I had zero free throws tonight. The inconsistency is f—-ing crazy.”
Brown is in the midst of a career year and is on pace to set a personal best in scoring with his 29.5 points per game. His usage has skyrocketed with Tatum on the shelf, and he leads the NBA with 16.1 2-point attempts per contest.
