Two weeks ago, amid his season-long grudge against NBA officiating, Jaylen Brown argued a call so vociferously that he got himself ejected from Boston’s road loss in San Antonio.
Since then, the Celtics star has succeeded in drawing fouls at the highest rate of his 10-year career.
Brown is averaging 11.3 free-throw attempts over his last seven games, more than he’s tallied in any other seven-game stretch since he entered the NBA in 2016. Among those were two games with 14 foul shots — both against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, including Wednesday night’s 119-109 win at TD Garden — and another with 21, the most by a Celtics player since Paul Pierce in 2007.
Coincidence? Or a case of the squeaky wheel getting the whistle?
“I mean, I feel like I’ve played the same style, but I feel like maybe complaining has given a little bit more notoriety to how the game is officiated, and I feel like I’ve gotten more calls,” Brown, who was fined $35,000 earlier this season for criticizing officials, said after Wednesday’s game. “I thought the officials did a good job tonight. Every call is not going to be perfect, but I thought they did a great job of trying to keep it balanced or keep it the same both ways.
“So I have no complaints. But if they’re going to get those calls, as long as we get ‘em too, I feel decent about it.”
Nine of Brown’s free throws on Wednesday came in the third quarter, during which Boston outscored OKC 39-30 to overcome a 13-point deficit. After sitting for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, he entered and drew three quick fouls on Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, putting the Celtics in the bonus with 6:09 remaining.
Gilgeous-Alexander is both the NBA’s most skilled scorer and one of the league’s best at inducing fouls. Brown, who finished with 31 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals, enjoyed flipping the script on last season’s NBA MVP, grinning to the crowd after he caught Gilgeous-Alexander in the air with an up-fake. He called it “payback” for a similar foul he committed during Boston’s 104-102 loss in Oklahoma City on March 12.
Jaylen cheesin lmaooo pic.twitter.com/vUWfWR9yYg
— Pull up shoot (@NElGHT_) March 26, 2026
Brown has taken more free throws than Gilgeous-Alexander — who ranks second in the NBA in total foul shots this season — in each of the two Celtics-Thunder matchups. He’s capitalized on those opportunities, too, going 12-for-14 from the line in both games and shooting 91.4% on freebies since his ejection against the Spurs.
“He’s done a really good job of getting to the free-throw line, especially against us,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters postgame. “I think it’s 14 twice, so 28 free throws in two games is a pretty good job. I mean, the best players in the history of the game get to the free-throw line, so it’s a part of the game. It’s the most efficient way to score points, statistically. So, yeah. Just going out there, playing, keeping defenders off balance and taking what they give you.”