Jaylen Brown believes the officials are making a point against him. The Celtics forward ripped the officiating after a late no-call against Utah on Monday and he felt that played a role in Boston’s loss to Orlando on Friday.
“I think in the fourth quarter, I think the officials made their point,” Brown said, per Jay King of The Athletic. “So I get it. I’ll keep my mouth closed.”
Boston held a one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter on Friday but lost by 13. Brown finished with 32 points but only shot two free throws.
“In the fourth quarter, I missed some good looks that I could have got my feet set just a little bit more,” Brown said. “And then it compounded, turned into some turnovers, and then they scored. For our team, they probably need me to make those shots. I’m human. If I shoot a shot and I feel good about it, I feel good, but you know, I’ve got to be a little better, I guess.”
We have more on the Celtics:
- Should the Celtics have traded Derrick White instead of Jrue Holiday during their salary-shedding offseason? Brian Robb of Masslive.com tackles that question in his latest mailbag. Robb believes that Boston would have gotten a bigger haul for White but that Holiday’s contract would have still been an albatross for the organization. White’s four-year, $118MM contract extension kicked in this season; Holiday, 35, is in the second year of a four-year, $134.4MM deal that includes a player option.
- Swingman Jordan Walsh has gotten some playing time this month, averaging 6.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.3 minutes per contest. A 2023 second-round pick, Walsh is increasingly gaining coach Joe Mazzulla’s trust. “He just chips away at it,” Mazzulla said, per Robb. “Again, that was a high-level of professionalism to be ready, and he just every day treats it as if he’s going to play. So I think that mindset is kind of what you have to have, and he handled it well, and he’s got to keep that up. But he works at the same pace regardless of if he’s playing or not, and that says a lot.”
- Anfernee Simons, acquired from Portland in the Holiday trade, played sparingly in the first half at Orlando. Simons, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, bounced back and contributed 11 fourth-quarter points. “I thought he responded pretty well,” Mazzulla said, per Souichi Terada of Masslive.com. “I thought he was more aggressive in the second half. There was no message there. He just has an understanding of what we have to do on both ends of the floor. I thought he did a much better job of that in the second half.”