Jaylen Brown admitted he let disputes with Wednesday’s Celtics-Nuggets officiating crew throw him off his game.
Though Brown scored a game-high 33 points in Boston’s 114-110 loss at TD Garden, he finished with more turnovers (seven) than free-throw attempts (three), and his effectiveness waned in the fourth quarter.
“I mean, they were physical. They got away with a lot,” Brown said of Denver’s defenders. “The refs allowed them to get away with a lot. I’d love to get to the free-throw line a little bit more. I was physical, I was aggressive, I went up strong. I didn’t flop, but I kind of let the officiating get to my head a little bit. I think the defense was good, but it wasn’t great. I think I should have been better in spots.”
Brown, who is averaging 7.2 foul shots per game this season, took issue with several drives through contact that didn’t draw calls.
“For me, every time I get the ball, I’m looking to be aggressive,” he said. “If I feel contact, I’m going to go through it. I’m going to go strong. But tonight, I was just getting blank faces when I was asking officials. They just decided, the last 10 games has been free throws; tonight, it wasn’t. So it is what it is.”
Of the 15 free throws Boston attempted in the game, eight came in the final 2:04 of regulation, after Denver had built a 13-point lead with a 14-0 fourth-quarter run. The Celtics went 9-for-15 from the line. The Nuggets were 16-for-24.
Brown, who’s voiced his displeasure with officiating multiple times this season, believed he should have earned more trips to the line.
“I normally get to my spots and go up and be physical and go to the basket, and I draw a lot of contact,” he said. “I’m one of the more aggressive players in the league. I drive a lot. And the whistle didn’t equate to that. Maybe they wanted to make an emphasis — I don’t know. But I’ll adjust for the next game and see how the game is being called. Because if you don’t get some of those calls, they look like bad shots, and it kind of snowballs on defense.
“So I still want to keep being aggressive. That’s what I do. That’s what my team wants me to do. But balancing it, picking and choosing my spots based on how they officiate in the game night to night. Because every night the officiating style is different, which is whatever, but I’ll be ready for the next game.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla removed Brown and fellow starter Derrick White — who combined for just seven fourth-quarter points — with 1:12 remaining and Boston down 109-98. Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman spurred a last-minute rally that cut the deficit to three, but they could not complete the comeback.
