The Boston Celtics were in a primetime matchup with another top team in the Western Conference after losing to the San Antonio Spurs a few nights earlier. This time, they had the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they could not win this one either and lost 104–102.
Jaylen Brown played until the end in this game after being ejected against the Spurs for arguing with the referees about a foul call. After this game, he shared that he was mostly satisfied with how the game was called as he went to the free-throw line 14 times, but he felt he could have gone more in the fourth quarter after some hard drives.
Brown then said that maybe he should have flopped to get those calls, and although he didn't mention Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's name, some believe he might be calling the Thunder star.
Brown said, "We applaud the players for playing the game the right way, but we give an advantage to people who try to manipulate the game for their own advantage. I don't think that's basketball. All the false allegations... it's anything to me."
Brown wouldn't be the first to say something about Gilgeous-Alexander's ability to get to the free-throw line over the past two weeks. When the Thunder played the New York Knicks recently, Mike Brown had some things to say after the game about how it was handled.
"SGA, that's a tough cover," the coach said. "He does a very good job of convincing the refs, probably better than anyone in the league, that he's getting hit."
At this point, everything people are saying about Gilgeous-Alexander and dirty talk is not working. The referees are seeing something completely different, and it's causing them to consistently go to the free-throw line.
