During the tough match between the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs, the final result moved to a secondary perspective, as the main story for some was the ejection of Jaylen Brown from the Tuesday night game, which left fans, teammates, and even the commentary booth in a state of disbelief. Even media outlets like Yahoo Sports have labeled the ejection as ‘ridiculous’.
With 3:38 remaining in the second quarter, what began as a routine drive ended with the Celtics’ leading scorer being escorted to the locker room. This situation has reignited the never-ending debate over the inconsistencies of some officials and whether star players are being given a fair whistle in the league’s most important moments.
The play that started it all
The ejection was triggered by what happened near the sideline. Brown was driving hard against San Antonio’s Stephon Castle when he appeared to be physically shoved out of bounds. Instead of a whistle against the defense (what everybody expected), the officials ruled it a turnover on Boston, awarding the ball to San Antonio.
Disappointed by this decision, Brown began to go crazy at the officiating crew. He was quickly assessed a technical foul, but as his frustration kept boiling over and he was given a second technical, originating the second ejection of his professional career.
To understand Brown’s reaction, we must identify how belittled the Celtics have felt by the officials during the season. As an example, Brown was slapped with a $35,000 fine for criticizing the officiating following a previous game with these same Spurs.
Back in January, Brown said this about the officiating performance:
“I’m driving to the basket. I’m physical. I don’t flop. I don’t shy away from contact… and nothing. The inconsistency is f-ing crazy. Give me the fine. All them dudes was terrible tonight. I don’t care
While the rules say that players must remain silent about refereeing performances, it is hard not to empathize with Brown’s anger. In a sport like professional basketball, with all the things that are on the line, players must have certain freedom of speech to say how they have felt about officials after a game, even more when many consider that an especific action was not ruled correctly.
A potential fine heading to Brown
The Hoops Collective believes that Brown could be subject to a fine regarding his actions. The veterans who compose the crew feel that he should have known to act better. Tim MacMahon, for example, leaned on the fact that his anger negatively affected his team. He said:
“People are mad at the referee. How about once you get a T, you’ve said what you had to say. How about you don’t get ejected in a big game for your team? How about holding the player accountable?
Others, like Tim Bontemps, do not think that Adam Silver will let this situation slide without an appropriate punishment. “I’m sure he’s going to get a huge fine,” he said on ‘Hoops Collective‘. As we said at the beginning of the article, this would not be the first time Brown gets fined for something like this.
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