On heels of $35,000 fine, Jaylen Brown offers insight into how he believes Celtics are being treated unfairly by officials
On heels of $35,000 fine, Jaylen Brown offers insight into how he believes Celtics are being treated unfairly by officials
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From [Globe.com](http://Globe.com)
By Adam Himmelsbach
MIAMI — Celtics forward Jaylen Brown has consistently voiced his frustrations with perceived officiating inconsistencies this season. The agitation reached a boiling point after Saturday night’s loss to the Spurs in which Brown did not attempt a free throw, and his team took just four.
During a [lengthy, expletive-filled rant](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/10/sports/celtics-spurs-victor-wembanyama/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link), Brown called out crew chief Curtis Blair by name and dared the NBA to fine him. The league obliged, [slapping Brown with a hefty $35,000 penalty](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/12/sports/jaylen-brown-fined-celtics/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link), $10,000 more than milder offenders generally receive.
On Wednesday afternoon, speaking publicly for the first time since, Brown offered a sheepish grin.
“Ask and you shall receive,” he said.
Brown then spent several minutes offering insight into how he believes the Celtics are being treated unfairly by officials, as well as his own quest to understand their approach, including personal study sessions. His tone was more measured than it was Saturday night, but he reiterated similar themes.
“As a team, we get to the free throw line the least in the league,” Brown said. “So, just protecting our guys and myself. I think we deserve a little bit more respect. I think the analytics show that our team is dead last. And it feels like inconsistencies, as well. So, hopefully they put some time in and review it. But I feel like defenders and stuff are getting away with a lot and it makes my job a lot harder.”
The Celtics are averaging a league-low 18.7 free throws per game, two fewer than the 29th-place Bucks. Of course, the perceived shortage is due in part to the Celtics’ playing style. Boston is attempting 42.6 3-pointers per game, second-most in the NBA.
During their 2023-24 championship season, Boston attempted 20.2 free throws per game, which would also rank last this season.
“We’re a good enough team that if we just play through it, we’ll beat 50 percent of the teams that are out there just because we play better basketball, we’re in the right place, we’re smarter,” Brown said. “But when you play really good teams, that makes it tough.”
Brown said he has brought up the issue to the NBA players’ union, as well as the league office. He also has tried to become more educated. He has studied the officials’ rule book to have a better idea of what they are looking for when they do or don’t call fouls. He has researched where each official is supposed to be located as a play unfolds, so he has a better idea where to direct his questions.
He said he also has studied NBA players who draw the most fouls, in search of clues that could help him unlock that area of his game. But that approach has mostly led to dead ends.
“I do the same things that they do,” Brown said. “They just pick and choose who they like to call it on. That’s the part that [ticks] me off. Everybody should just get reffed evenly and consistently, but it just seems like there’s an agenda where some guys they choose to call certain fouls for, some guys they don’t.”
“He has studied the officials’ rule book to have a better idea of what they are looking for when they do or don’t call fouls. He has researched where each official is supposed to be located as a play unfolds, so he has a better idea where to direct his questions.
He said he also has studied NBA players who draw the most fouls, in search of clues that could help him unlock that area of his game.”
I hate to break it to you Jaylen….
This is why I stopped watching regular season NBA ball. The openly rigged officiating is just absurd.
If I can be honest for a moment, I am glad that **JB** isn’t being silent about how he’s officiated by the refs they should be held to a standard.I say this because if you continue to let it slide then they’ll never really do anything about it.
also if players can be fined for critizing the refs then the refs should be fined when they get a call wrong and double down on that same wrong call after reviewing it imo.
That bit comparing their free throw rate to 2 years ago pretty much tells you it’s not something new, this isn’t some anti-Brown ref agenda. Tatum is gone, he’s probably worth at least 1.5 free throw difference. Porzingus was also great at drawing fouls… I think brown is just frustrated that he alone isn’t enough to beat the best of the league, but it’s still dam impressive to be where they are without Tatum
This is starting to get pathetic and is taking away from an otherwise great season. The incessant bitching about the officiating needs to stop.
The margin for error the this team is lower so it’s amplified. It’s been this way for a while but we used to kick everyone’s ass so it didn’t matter
It’s hard to not sound biased when you’re talking about your own team in this manner, but I think if you’ve watched every Celtics game like most of us, you can see where there is inconsistency compared to other teams. Just because you are in a large market doesn’t mean you’re getting a favorable whistle. That’s only true for two large market teams.
I think the fact that Tatum is not allowed to clap at himself in frustration without getting a tech, but other players can or even clap directly at a ref and be fine.. that confirms it for me. Him and Brown both have bad whistles. You can’t watch the Celtics play this season and tell me Brown is getting a fair whistle.