Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown was ejected with 3:42 remaining in the first half of Tuesday night’s 125-116 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Brown received two rapid-fire technical fouls from the officiating crew after expressing frustration over an uncalled foul on a lost out-of-bounds ball.
Crew Chief Tyler Ford assessed the first technical foul. Seconds later, Umpire Suyash Mehta issued the second technical foul, triggering Brown’s automatic removal from the game.
Following the game, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla directed pointed criticism at Ford for allowing Mehta to execute the final ejection. “I just give a ton of credit to my high school principal. He had the balls to throw a student out; he didn’t leave it to the hall monitor,” Mazzulla stated in his postgame press conference.
Brown recorded eight points and seven assists in 15 minutes of play prior to his exit. The ejection marks an escalation in existing tensions between Boston and the officials regarding matchups against San Antonio. On January 12, the NBA fined Brown $35,000 for publicly criticizing officiating consistency following a 100-95 loss to the Spurs in which the Celtics attempted four free throws.
Teammates Jayson Tatum and Derrick White have openly criticized officials for being quick to issue ejections during nationally televised broadcasts. The sequence on Tuesday highlighted the strict hierarchy within an NBA crew, with Mazzulla’s comments targeting the specific dynamic of a Crew Chief deferring to an Umpire during a high-profile player removal in professional sports.