It’s, no doubt, a fine line. Celtics star Jaylen Brown does have a tendency, when he drives against a given opponent, to put up his left arm and give that opponent a slight shove. By the letter of the law in the NBA, that is an offensive foul. It is, though, something that star players across the league do fairly regularly, put up a slight bar with their off arm to create space to move against a fervent defenders. Brown did it, too, throughout the NBA season.
But he did not get called for it as consistently as he did once this season’s playoffs started. That was a massive source of frustration for Brown, and the numbers show that there is some cause for that frustration. In seven playoff games this year, Brown was whistled for 10 offensive fouls, an absurd number considering that No. 2 on the list–a tie among four players–has committed just five offensive fouls.
Sure, Brown is sometimes guilty of flailing the left arm into a defender, but to suggest he does it so much that he warrants twice as many offensive fouls as the next guy on the list is out of whack.
But Brown was very forceful in calling that out on Sunday–and he could get hit with an NBA fine. Brown was fined $35,000 for criticizing game officials in January. This could be worse. “It could get pretty massive. I think he could get hammered for this one,” one NBA exec said.
Jaylen Brown Tabbed for Common Basketball Move
On Sunday, a day after Brown’s Celtics lost in the playoffs to the Sixers in a massive collapse from a 3-1 series lead through four games, Brown addressed the matter. Aggravation was running high, but Brown appeared on a livestream and did not hold back when the topic turned to the referees.
He claimed that referees around the league acknowledged that their colleagues were intentionally targeting Brown.
Said Brown: “Dead last in getting calls, and I was vocal about it. I got thrown out some games, etc. They keep saying, like, ‘It’s a push off,’ and stuff like that. You know how many players do that? That is such a common play, a basketball play, every player does it. So why are you targeting me?”
Celtics Star Says Referees ‘Clearly Have an Agenda’
Brown has been critical of officiating all year, and was No. 2 in offensive fouls during the regular season. In all, he was called for 40 offensive fouls in 71 games, or 0.56 calls against him per game. In the playoffs, all the sudden that doubled–Brown was called for 1.43 offensive fouls per game in the loss to Philadelphia.
Again, after an MVP-caliber season, he is not very happy about all that and he is not afraid to say so.
“They clearly had an agenda, maybe because I spoke so critical on them in the regular season, so you know, how they responded,” Brown said. “Like, we are going to call every—you are going to lead the playoffs in offensive fouls. That was the response from the officiating crew. You could clearly tell.
“I actually spoke to some refs who said there’s an agenda going on each game that, any time Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it. Paul George does the same thing. Jalen Brunson does the same thing. It’s a basketball play, whether y’all believe it or not.”
Players typically get fined for publicly criticizing officials–Devin Booker and Marcus Smart were fined $35,000 each in the first round of the playoffs. But to outright accuse them of having an agenda goes a step beyond criticizing, and the league is likely to punish him accordingly.
Celtics Jaylen Brown Faces ‘Massive’ NBA Punishment After Ripping Refs