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Tim Bontemps
Boston–in view of a 100-95 damage to San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, celtics star jaylen brown After Boston shot only four free throws in the contest, a detailed commentary was made on the officiating crew, including naming crew chief Curtis Blair.
“Honestly, I feel like they took too much for granted and I’m tired of the inconsistency,” Brown said. “I’ll accept the penalty at this point. I thought it was some bull tonight. I think [the Spurs are] A good defensive team, but they’re not that good.
“I hope someone can pull a clip, because it’s the same — every time we play a good team. It’s like they deny the call and then call a touch foul on the other end.”
He added, “It’s extremely disappointing, brother. Like, we work hard.” “We exceeded our expectations. We compete hard on the defensive end. Then they reward the other team with a touch foul. Then we go out there and guys are allowed to walk away… I hope someone pulls it up, please.
“Every time we play a good team, the inconsistency is crazy. I’ll take the penalty. Curtis, all those guys were terrible tonight. I don’t care. They can fine me all they want. But this is crazy. Every time we play a good team, they’re the same bulls—. Someone please put out the clip.”
When Brown was asked if this was a new problem this season, he said, “I don’t know what’s going on. I got my cons or something, 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 foul shots. derrick white With 37 seconds remaining.
“If we can’t get to the free throw line and teams are allowed to be physical and force us out of our spots, etc., it’s hard to win games like that,” Brown said. “We hit four free throws tonight and lost the game by four. Can’t say that’s the whole game, the whole story. We’ve got to be better in the spots. I’ve got to be better in the spots. But God, I’m driving to the basket. I’m physical. I don’t flop. I don’t shy away from contact. I’m strong. I’m athletic. Nothing else. Zero free throws tonight. Inconsistency is crazy. Give it to me OK.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Boston needs to clean up its defense when asked about the foul shot discrepancy.
“I mean, we’ve obviously got to play better defense without fouling,” he said. “I mean, there’s no question about it. We’ve got to play better defense without fouling. I’d say out of those 20 free throws, there’s about four or five fouls we’ve got to be able to control, just be better on the defensive end.”
Brown, who is playing his career season with the Celtics (24-14), had a forgettable fourth quarter in Saturday’s loss. Playing the full 12 minutes, he went 1 of 9 from the field and committed two turnovers (Boston had only two in the fourth). This included the game’s turning point, when he missed a wide-open 3-pointer and Boston trailed 95–93 with 1:19 remaining. After this the ball was stolen from him De’Aaron Fox in open court, due to which a Julian Champagnie The layup gave San Antonio a four-point lead with 37 seconds remaining, which it would not relinquish.
“In the end? I thought it was a good game,” said Brown, who had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, but made only 11 of 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 some possessions that got away from us. I think I probably should have held the ball. Get some space. I had a costly turnover and I also had an open look at the end that I had to knock out.”
“I thought we played well for the most part today.”
But it was the Spurs (27-11) who had the upper hand in the end despite the offensive struggles of their dynamic young guards. Stephen Castle (3-for-16) and dylan harper (2-for-7). Thankfully for San Antonio, it was still Victor WembanyamaWho improved his play after a slow start – once again coming off the bench – scoring 21 points.
Vembanyama hit a pair of jumpers in the final moments, hitting another jumper at 19.1 seconds to win the match.
“The mentality was just [we] Gotta close out that game,” said Vembanyama, who also had six rebounds, three blocks and one assist in 26 minutes. “It’s easier said than done, but too often we put in a lot of effort and waste it one way or another. So, I felt like not letting that happen.”
This was the third consecutive game in which Wembanyama came off the bench after returning to the court from a knee injury, although he said he planned to return to the starting lineup soon. Due to the NBA’s 65-game qualifying rule, superstar big men can only miss three more games over the remainder of the season to remain eligible for end-of-season awards.
