‘Irate’ Brown blasts refs after Celtics loss to Spurs
BOSTON—Celtics star Jaylen Brown didn’t hold back while criticizing the officials during a profanity-laced postgame interview after Boston’s 100-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.
“I hope somebody can pull up the clips,” he said. “It’s the same sh*t every time we play a good team. It’s like they refuse to make the calls and they call touch calls on the other end. That’s just extremely frustrating.”
He went on to say that he wants someone to watch the videos to see why he was upset.
“Somebody please pull it up,” he said, standing in the locker room. “Every time we play a good team, the inconsistency is crazy … I’m irate at how they officiated the game today.”
The Spurs went to the free-throw line 20 times, making 14. Boston just went four, hitting three.
He even went on to mention one official by his first name, Curtis Blair.
“Curtis and all those dudes were terrible tonight,” he said. “I don’t care. They can fine me whatever they want.”
The NBA regularly fines players who use profanity during interviews. Suns guard Jalen Green was recently fined $25,000 for using profanity during a teammate’s postgame interview.
Victor Wembanyama scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, including a game-sealing jumper with 19.2 seconds left in the Spurs’ victory.
55-point win
De’Aaron Fox also finished with 21 points for the Spurs and Keldon Johnson added 18 points and 10 rebounds. San Antonio won its second straight after losing two in a row.
Derrick White led Boston with 29 points and Brown had 27. The Celtics lost for just the third time in 12 games.
The game was tied at 84 before Baylor Scheierman’s corner three-pointer pushed Boston ahead with just under seven minutes left. White followed with a driving basket before the Spurs went on a 9-2 spree, taking a 93-91 lead on Johnson’s three-pointer with 2:14 left.
After Brown’s layup tied it, Wembanyama’s fadeaway jumper pushed San Antonio back in front with 1:33 to go.
Brown was then stripped of the ball near midcourt by Fox and Julian Champagnie converted a putback of his own miss to make it 97-93 with 41 seconds left.
Wembanyama’s left-wing jumper made it 99-95.
In Salt Lake City, Brandon Miller scored 18 points, LaMelo Ball had 17 and the Charlotte Hornets built a 47-point lead in the first half of a 150-95 rout against the Utah Jazz.
The Hornets bounced back from a pair of frustrating losses in a big way, having fallen to Toronto by one point and Indiana by two in their last two games. Charlotte pounded the NBA champion Thunder by 27 in Oklahoma City before those defeats, previously the Hornets’ largest victory of the season.
Tre Mann led the Hornets with 20 points in 12 minutes off the bench. Miles Bridges and Collin Sexton each scored 15 in a game Charlotte led by 57 in the second half.
Ryan Kalkbrenner and Grant Williams returned from injuries for Charlotte, which outscored Utah by 45 points behind the three-point line in the first half. The Hornets were 16 for 36 while the Jazz hit one of their 12 attempts.
