BOSTON -- In the wake of a 100-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night, Celtics star Jaylen Brown went on an extended rant directed at the officiating crew, including singling out crew chief Curtis Blair by name, after Boston shot just four free throws in the contest.
"I feel like, honestly, they just got away with a lot, and I'm tired of the inconsistency," Brown said. "I'll accept the fine at this point. I thought it was some bulls--- tonight. I think [the Spurs are] a good defensive team, but they ain't that damn good.
"I hope somebody can just pull up the clips, because it's the same s--- every time we play a good team. It's like they refuse to make a call, then call touch falls on the other end.
"That's just extremely frustrating, bro. Like, we play hard. We were outplaying our expectations. We compete hard on the defensive end. Then they reward the other team with touch fouls. Then we go down there and guys are allowed to get away with -- I hope, just somebody please pull it up.
"Every time we play a good team, the inconsistency is crazy. I'll take the f---ing fine. Curtis, those dudes was terrible tonight. I don't care. They can fine me whatever they want. But it's crazy. Every time we play a good team, it's the same bulls---. Somebody please pull up the clips.
When Brown was asked if this is a new problem this season, he said, "I don't know what's going on. I got my conspiracies or whatever, but I don't know what's going on. But it seems like every time we play a good team, it's the same s---."
San Antonio went 14-for-20 from the free throw line Saturday night, compared to 3-for-4 from Boston -- with two of those four coming from Derrick White with 37 seconds remaining.
"If we can't get to the free throw line and teams are allowed to be physical and bump us off our spots, etc., then it's hard to win games like that," Brown said. "We shot four free throws tonight and lost the game by four. Not to say that's the whole game, the whole story. We gotta be better in spots. I gotta be better in spots. But goddamn. I'm driving to the basket. I'm physical. I don't flop. I don't shy away from contact. I go up strong. I'm athletic. And nothing. Zero free throws tonight. The inconsistency is f-ing crazy. Give me the fine."
For his part, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, when asked about the foul shot discrepancy, said Boston had to clean up its defense.
"I mean, we obviously have to be better defending without fouling," he said. "I mean, there's no question about that. We have to do better defending without fouling. I would say out of those 20 free throws, there's about four or five fouls that we have to be able to control, just get better at that on the defensive end."
Setting aside his issues with the free throws, Brown -- who is in the midst of a career season for the Celtics (24-14) -- had a fourth quarter to forget in Saturday's loss. Playing all 12 minutes, he went 1-for-9 from the field and committed two turnovers -- the only two Boston had in the fourth quarter.
That included the turning point of the game, when he missed a wide open 3-pointer with Boston down 95-93 with 1:19 remaining, followed by getting the ball stolen from him by De'Aaron Fox in the open court which led to a Julian Champagnie layup that gave San Antonio a four-point lead with 37 seconds to go that it would never relinquish.
"In the end? I thought it was a good game," said Brown, who had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists but shot just 11-for-28 from the field and committed five of Boston's 10 turnovers on the night. "I thought we did what we needed to do. At the end, we just had a few possessions that got away from us. I think I should have probably just held the ball. Get some space. I had a costly turnover and I had an open look, too, at the end, that I gotta knock down. I thought we played good today, for the most part."
But it was the Spurs (27-11) who had just enough to pull the win out in the end, despite big struggles offensively from dynamic young guards Stephon Castle (3-for-16) and Dylan Harper (2-for-7). Thankfully for the Spurs, though, they still had Wembanyama, who came on after a slow start -- while once again coming off the bench -- to score 21 points. He hit a pair of jumpers to seal the game in the closing moments, with the second one with 19.1 seconds to go officially putting the game away.
"The mindset was just [we] have to close out that game," said Wembanyama, who also had six rebounds, an assist and three blocks in 26 minutes. "It's easier said than done, but too often we do lots of efforts and let it go to waste one way or the other. So I felt like not letting that happen."
It was the third straight game Wembanyama came off the bench after returning to the court from a knee injury, though he said that the plan is for him to return to the starting lineup soon. The superstar big man can only miss three more games the rest of the season to remain eligible for end-of-season awards due to the NBA's 65-game rule to qualify.
