Jaylen Brown is restrained as he argues with officials in the first half of Tuesday's loss at San Antonio, which led to his ejection.
Jaylen Brown is restrained as he argues with officials in the first half of Tuesday's loss at San Antonio, which led to his ejection.Eric Gay/Associated Press
Like art, officiating basketball is subjective. It’s in the eye of the beholder and the holder of the whistle. One person’s genius is another’s referee refuse.
But when Celtics star Jaylen Brown vs. NBA officials constitutes one of the NBA’s most heated rivalries and results in an irate Brown getting the gate in a marquee nationally-televised matchup, we’ve ventured into mutually assured reputation destruction territory.
Brown was ejected in the second quarter of the Celtics’ 125-116 loss at the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night, picking up a pair of technical fouls for vociferously complaining about a no-call after he appeared to be nudged out of bounds by San Antonio’s Stephon Castle with 3:42 to go in the half. Brown has waged a season-long crusade to get himself and the Celtics a more just whistle. His Manhattan Project-level meltdown on crew chief Tyler Ford, who ostensibly missed the call, represented the crescendo of that quicksand campaign.
Brown is right about the refs, but the manner in which he’s going about holding the officials accountable is proving counterproductive — for him, his team, and the NBA.
You can be in the right and handle things wrong. Publicly polemicizing and chastising the men and women with the whistles clearly isn’t working. It’s having the opposite effect, and it’s going to make life harder for Brown and the Celtics. They’re going to get less sympathy, fewer calls, and more backlash from the officials.
Spite makes right in the NBA.
Frankly, it’s a sad commentary on the NBA’s officiating that an MVP candidate is locked in an escalating hoops Holy War with the whistle-holders.
On and off the court, Brown is a man who sees injustice clearly and doesn’t stand for it — whether it’s the racial wealth gap in Boston, inequality in educational opportunities for the Black community, the social justice reckoning that followed the death of George Floyd, or being omitted from USA Basketball’s men’s Olympic squad. He’s a man of strong beliefs, words, and actions. That’s commendable.
However, at this point, the cerebral Brown should rethink his approach. Part of his game is using sheer force of will to get his way. That’s not going to work with the whistleblowers.
Jaylen Brown was angry after not getting a call he wanted, and then was incensed when he was ejected moments later Tuesday in San Antonio.
Jaylen Brown was angry after not getting a call he wanted, and then was incensed when he was ejected moments later Tuesday in San Antonio.Eric Gay/Associated Press
Diplomacy, not righteous indignation, represents the path forward. Brown doesn’t want to go down the road of becoming a Chris Paul or a Rasheed Wallace lightning rod/target for officials who have long memories and thin skin.
Brown was already charged up for Tuesday’s game after the first meeting with the Spurs, on Jan. 10 at TD Garden. In that contest, Brown shot zero free throws, and the officials awarded the Spurs 20 free throws to Boston’s four. Brown lambasted lead official Curtis Blair and his crew, begging the NBA to fine him, saying, “The inconsistency is [expletive] crazy. Give me the fine.”
They did: He was issued a $35,000 fine for his comments, which included this gem: “Curtis, all them dudes, was terrible tonight. I don’t care,” he said. “They can fine me whatever they want. But it’s crazy. Every time we play a good team, it’s the same [expletive].”
Following his ejection Tuesday night, he took to social media to express his lack of surprise with more dubious officiating.
It’s not like Brown lacks a point or evidence and is lashing out for no reason. Brown ranked 12th in the league in free-throw attempts per game (7.0) behind players such as Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson, and Keyonte George. That doesn’t sound awful until you factor in that Brown relentlessly attacks the rim like few players in the NBA.
He entered Wednesday ranked second in the NBA in drives per game at 18.9. That sat just ahead of reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder (18.7). The leader was Portland’s Deni Avdija at 19.2. Both Avdija and Gilgeous-Alexander average nine or more free throws per game.
Something doesn’t add up there.
Ironically, Brown got tossed on the same night that officials awarded Miami’s Bam Adebayo an eye-popping NBA-record 43 free throws, including 29 in the second half, in his historic 83-point performance. Sorry, no NBA player deserves 43 free throws in a game, not even a genetically spliced clone of Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.
The juxtaposition of Brown’s night and Adebayo’s one emphasizes Brown’s point about inconsistent officiating.
Perhaps, NBA commissioner Adam Silver should be more focused on that than telling teams how and when they can focus on future success. What happened Tuesday night with Brown’s premature exit from a potential NBA Finals preview is more of an affront to the NBA’s paying customers in the arena and on TV than alleged tanking by non-contenders.
Plus, the NBA has long indulged the egos of many a Notorious REF from Earl Strom to Joey Crawford to Scott Foster to Tony Brothers. If yours truly sees a game is going to be officiated by one of the Goble brothers, John or Jacyn, I brace for some, shall we say, unorthodox rules interpretations.
Look, the Guardians of the Game have a difficult job. They’re first-guessed, and they’re going to make mistakes just like the players and coaches. Overall, they do good work, but there’s zero reason we should know certain officials by name.
Other sports have worked assiduously towards removing personality and personal interpretations from the equation and the application of the rules. In Major League Baseball, gone are the days of Cowboy Joe West, and in are the days of ABS (automated ball-strike challenge system).
The NBA is a league where a future Hall of Famer, Paul, and the league’s highest profile official, Foster, engaged in a long-running feud, one Paul claimed was personal. At one point, Paul’s teams lost 13 straight playoff games refereed by Foster. Yikes.
The focus on Jaylen Brown's ire Tuesday night in Texas: referee Tyler Ford.
The focus on Jaylen Brown's ire Tuesday night in Texas: referee Tyler Ford.Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
No one here wants that for Brown. He’s not wrong, and he shouldn’t have been tag-teamed tossed by Ford and Suyash Mehta, who is too smart for this gig. Mehta majored in neurobiology and physiology at the University of Maryland. He’s the Craig Breslow of NBA officials.
But the manner in which Brown is protesting isn’t yielding the desired results. The Celtics can’t afford for the referees to become another opponent the Green have to overcome on the path to Banner No. 19.
That’s the proper call for Brown.
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Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.