Jaylen Brown can expect to receive a strong letter from the NBA in his inbox over the next few days. He made it clear he was OK with that on Saturday.
In a battle between two teams near the top of their conference standings, Brown’s Boston Celtics lost 100-95 to the San Antonio Spurs. Boston finished the game with a season-low four free throws, while the Spurs received 20 attempts.
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Brown had a productive but ineffective game with 27 points on 11 of 28 shooting (and no free throw attempts), plus 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 turnovers. After the game, he blasted the officiating crew of Curtis Blair, Nick Buchert and Jason Goldenberg. talking to journalists:
“I’ll accept the fine at this point. I thought they were bulls*** tonight. I think they’re a good defensive team, but they’re not that good. I hope someone can just pull out the clips, because it’s the same thing every time we play a good team. It’s like they refuse to make a call, and then they call contact fouls on the other end, and it’s extremely frustrating, my brother.
“We play hard. We exceed our expectations, we compete hard on the defensive end and they reward the other team with contact fouls and we go and the guys are allowed to get away with it – someone please shoot it. Every time we play a good team, the inconsistency is crazy. I’ll take the damn fine. Curtis, all those guys, were horrible tonight. I don’t care, they can fine me whatever they want.”
While we can’t detail all the calls and non-calls Brown has in mind, the data indicates he might be right. As a team, the Celtics received 4.4 fewer free throws than their opponent per game on Saturday, the lowest mark in the NBA, while the Spurs are second with 4.7 more than their opponent per game (the Los Angeles Lakers are first with 4.8 more).
Additionally, if we mean by “good team” a team that has won at least 60% of its games this season, that free throw margin becomes an incredible 10.7 less per game when including the Spurs game. In the November 1 loss to the Houston Rockets, Houston received 28 more free throws than Boston.
All of this comes with a warning: Equal free throw attempts do not mean good officiating. Different playing styles on offense and defense lead to different foul rates. An offense that focuses on driving the ball will receive more free throws than an offense that attempts more 3-point shots. The Celtics might fall into the latter category, as they have the second-most 3-point attempts per game in the league.
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Yet the team at the bottom of the pile in what is essentially a referee’s decision will never be happy, and Brown insisted that the physicality allowed was hurting his team:
“I’m angry with the way they officiated the game today. If we can’t get to the free throw line and teams are allowed to be physical and make us lose our spot, it’s hard to win games like that. We shot four free throws tonight and lost the game by four.
“I don’t want to say that’s the whole game, the whole story. We have to be better in spots, I have to be better in spots, but damn. I drive to the basket, I’m physical, I don’t flop, I’m not afraid of contact. I go up hard, I’m athletic, and nothing. I didn’t have any free throws tonight. The inconsistency is really crazy. Give me the fine.”
This is not the first time this season that he has complained about refereeing.
The loss drops the Celtics’ record to 24-14, tying them with the New York Knicks for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. Regardless of how they are officiated, they have consistently been one of the NBA’s biggest surprises in a season without Jayson Tatum.
In Tatum’s absence, Brown is averaging a career-high 29.5 points per game and will almost certainly play in the NBA All-Star Game next month if healthy..
