With Jayson Tatum back and Victor Wembanyama on a tear, Tuesday’s game between the the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs carried added weight as a potential NBA Finals preview.
One of its star players didn’t make to halftime.
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Celtics All-Star and MVP candidate Jaylen Brown thought he was fouled late in the first half. Officials didn’t call one, and he protested the lack of a call. This protest eventually led to two technical fouls and his ejection
The incident took place with 3:38 remaining in the second quarter. Brown had the ball in the frontcourt and lost control of it out of bounds. Officials whistled the dead ball, but no foul.
Brown believed that he was fouled by Stephon Castle, who was guarding him close to the sideline. Replay showed that Castle gave him a slight shove on his hip.
Brown immediately protested the lack of a call to referee Tyler Ford. He then walked to the other end of the court to continue his protest, and Ford called him for one technical foul.
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Brown continued to argue. He started to approach Ford before his teammates Derrick White and and Sam Hauser intervened. As White and Hauser started to push him back, another whistle blew.
This one came from referee Suyash Mehta on the other side of the court. It was for a second technical on Brown and Brown’s automatic ejection.
This did not de-escalate the situation. Brown, at this point, was furious. He pushed away his teammates to continue to approach and argue with Ford. Ultimately members of Boston’s security staff and head coach Joe Mazulla compelled Brown to leave the court.
Brown walked into the tunnel around 90 seconds after the no-call triggered the incident. Boston was leading 51-49 before Julian Champagnie hit 1 of 2 technical free throws to cut Boston’s lead to 51-50.
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By halftime, the game was tied at 58. And Brown was on his phone, complaining about the situation on social media.
This story will be updated.