Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics had the pleasure of hosting the New York Knicks at the TD Garden on Friday night in a game that felt like it had a playoff atmosphere between two Eastern Conference contenders.
In what was a highly competitive matchup that featured plenty of scoring in the Celtics’ 133-123 victory, tensions heated up in the fourth quarter after Brown was called for a technical foul. The Celtics’ All-Star guard was called for a foul while defending Emmanuel Quickley on the perimeter, which led to Brown telling one official, “Don’t call that weak-ass s—.”
He later “waved off” the official in an ‘unsportsmanlike act’, which led to Brown’s second technical foul on the night, and the first ejection of his NBA career.
After the game, Brown sounded off on the ejection, saying he just wished he would have gotten his money’s worth while essentially saying the ref had a bad day.
“To be honest, I’m not sure. But I wish I would’ve got my money’s worth. I always thought my first career ejection would be something a little more exciting. Maybe a tussle or something, guys get folded up, go to the ground, not some overemotional ref who had a bad day. What I’m most upset about is I should’ve got my f—ing money’s worth.”
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown on first NBA ejection
“You could tell, his emotions were involved, XYZ, wanted to make it a back-and-forth,” Brown said. “I’m explaining to the ref, and he calls the second tech from the other side of the court, which is a clear example of somebody exercising their power to try to get somebody thrown out the game. I thought it was bulls—.”
Brown may not have agreed with the call, but it didn’t matter for the Celtics, who still won the game, and moved to 16-5, strengthening their status as the best team in the Eastern Conference.
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