Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown earned himself an ejection in his team’s 125-116 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, March 10, and he didn’t stay quiet about it.
Minutes after leaving the court, Brown, 29, took to X in the locker room, writing, “this the s*** I be talking about.”
Brown was seemingly alluding to his rant against NBA officiating in January after another game against the Spurs, which resulted in a $35,000 fine.
“I’ll accept the fine at this point,” he told reporters at the time. “I think they’re 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 fouls on the other end.”
He continued, “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. The inconsistency is f***ing crazy. Give me the fine.”
Brown’s ejection on Tuesday came as the result of back-to-back technical fouls. He earned the first after furiously arguing with one official about an out of bounds call, claiming the Spurs’ Stephon Castle pushed him.
The official, crew chief Tyler Ford, later told a field reporter that the first technical was “for aggressively pointing and using profanity and resentment to the no-call.”
But Brown didn’t stop there. He continued to argue as teammate Sam Hauser tried to restrain him. Official Suyash Mehta called him for the second technical with Ford saying he “aggressively approached a game official while pointing and using profanity.”
Eventually, Brown’s teammates, team security, head coach Joe Mazzulla and assistant coach Sam Cassell were able to lead the incensed All-Star off the court.
Mazzulla, 37, had Brown’s back after the game.
“I just give a ton of credit to my high school principal. He had the balls to throw a student out,” he said, seemingly referring to Mehta issuing the second technical and not Ford. “He didn’t leave it to the hall monitor.”
Mazzulla added that he felt Brown was justified in his anger.
“I understand completely where Jaylen’s coming from,” he said. “Absolutely. And I’ve got his back 100 percent. I think he was 100 percent right to be frustrated and do what he did.”
Teammate Jayson Tatum also criticized how the officials handled the incident, conceding that Brown’s first technical was “probably warranted,” but not the second.
“But, the second tech, you’ve got to understand it’s a national TV game, two of the best teams in the league,” he said. “If you make a big deal about stars playing then you’re trigger happy to throw someone out the game, I disagree with that.”
