Did Suns Star Devin Booker Scold Celtics Over NBA Tournament Remarks?

The Boston Celtics weren’t thrilled with the point differential aspect of the NBA In-Season Tournament as they were forced to try to run up the score Tuesday against the Chicago Bulls in an effort to advance.

Jaylen Brown voiced his displeasure of point differential being a deciding factor in moving on in the tournament. Jrue Holiday and head coach Joe Mazzulla weren’t happy about it, either.

But not everyone around the NBA was as torn up about it as the Celtics. Devin Booker welcomed the wrinkle it presented, and while he didn’t take a direct shot at the Celtics, they did catch a ricochet shot from the Phoenix Suns star when he expressed his view on the matter.

“I’ve seen teams upset about it, I don’t know why. I’ve seen players upset about it, I don’t know why,” Booker told reporters following the Suns’ 112-105 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, per AZCentral’s Duane Rankin. “I mean honestly, I wish every game was like that where you could play until the end and it wasn’t viewed as disrespectful. Just high competition.”

Brown, Holiday and Mazzulla felt like they were disrespecting the Bulls by the way they had to approach things to keep their shot alive of winning the inaugural tournament. Mazzulla went as far as to have the Celtics intentionally foul Bulls big man Andre Drummond in the second half with the outcome of the contest already decided.

While the Celtics believe they had to violate the integrity of the game, Booker sees it differently.

“If everybody’s under the same impression that you’re playing until the end, then it will never be a problem,” Booker told reporters.

The Celtics ultimately did what had to be done to advance and will face the Indiana Pacers in the quarterfinal round on Monday night. Phoenix is situated on the other side of the bracket as Booker and the Suns could potentially square off against the Celtics for the in-season tournament title on Dec. 9.