Jaylen Brown Believes NBA Should Look Into Controversial Celtics Ending

Jaylen Brown didn’t hold anything back in his postgame news conference following the controversial ending of Monday’s Celtics-Pacers matchup.

Boston went back and forth against Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the fourth quarter. Brown scored 40 points without Jayson Tatum, who sat out to manage his injury. However, Brown missed a 14-foot jumper with three seconds left. A foul was called on Buddy Hield, but after the officials reviewed the play, the foul call was overturned. Indiana got the ball back and Kristaps Porzingis fouled Bennedict Mathurin on a 3-point attempt, and he hit two out of his three free throws to win the game for Indiana.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed postgame that Hield told him he had fouled Brown, yet the officials believed the Pacers guard touching the ball first negated the contact to the Celtics All-Star’s head.

“I think he obviously hit me in the head. I think we definitely need to do some kind of investigation, that’s all I’m gonna say,” Brown told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “I think that was an obvious one. I never heard of head part of the ball, doesn’t make any sense to me. And I asked them, ‘Did I get hit in the head?’ He (the referee) look at me straight in the face, ‘No, you didn’t get hit in the head.’ And I’m like, ‘OK.’ Then you come down on the other end, like that cost our team the game.

“You expect us not to be frustrated? We’re trying to build great habits. We’re trying to win as many games as possible, and we just drop one because of that. I feel like we got the right to be upset, and the league should understand. Of course, we’re going to say something about it after the game, so I don’t think there should be any fines. But I definitely think that one should be investigated.”

The NBA tends to fine players and coaches for going after the officials, so Brown will have to wait until Tuesday afternoon to figure out if money will be taken out of his bank account. All eyes also will be on the NBA’s final two-minute report to see if there truly was a mistake made Monday night.

Brown referenced Buffalo Wild Wings on social media after his postgame news conference while quote tweeting a replay of the overturned call.

Boston will have to shake off the loss as it heads back home to prepare for a matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.