BOSTON — Even a playoff exit couldn’t stop Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown’s season-long crusade against NBA referees. The league announced Tuesday night that it fined Brown $50,000 for comments he made on a livestream the day after the Celtics were eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Celtics lost Game 7 of their first-round series against Philadelphia 109-100 on Saturday night. Brown, who had more offensive fouls than any other player during the first round, said on a Twitch broadcast Saturday that the referees “clearly had an agenda” against him.
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“Maybe because I spoke and was critical of refs in the regular season,” Brown said. “So they responded, ‘You’re gonna lead the playoffs in offensive fouls.’ That’s how that was, the response from the officiating crew. You could clearly tell.
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“And I’ve actually spoke to some refs, and they said it was an agenda going into each game. ‘So, anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it.’”
During the livestream, Brown also stated a belief that Joel Embiid “flopped entirely, way too much” and that “flopping has ruined our game.”
Brown was fined $35,000 in January after calling out referee Curtis Blair by name, saying he and his crew were “terrible” during a 100-95 Boston loss to the San Antonio Spurs. During a postgame rant, Brown also said that “the inconsistency (in officiating) is crazy” and that the Celtics dealt with “the same bulls—” every time they played a good team.
Brown criticized NBA officiating several other times throughout the season. Even after his fine in January, Brown continued to voice his complaints, outlining several reasons the Celtics deserved more respect from referees.