Celtics' Jaylen Brown Accuses NBA Refs of Agenda Against Him in 76ers Series

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown accused NBA officials of targeting him with an agenda during the team's Eastern Conference playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, which Boston lost in Game 7.

Brown pointed to 76ers center Joel Embiid receiving calls after Philadelphia's win over Boston on Saturday night. He criticized the referees during a livestream.

"They keep saying there are push-offs and stuff like that," Brown said, according to Mass Live. "Do you know how many players do that? That’s the common play, a basketball play. Every player does it. So why are you targeting me? They clearly had an agenda. Maybe because I had spoken and was critical of the refs in the regular season. So you know how they responded? You’re going to lead the playoffs in offensive fouls. That was the response from the officiating crew."

Brown added that he spoke to some referees who confirmed an agenda entering each game. "Anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it," he said. "Paul George does the same thing. Jalen Brunson does the same thing. I can go down the list. It’s a basketball play, whether y’all believe it or not. Everybody does that when you drive, especially when you got bodies on you. Philly took advantage of it and they took advantage of the officiating and it cost us to some degree."

Philadelphia won the decisive Game 7, 109-100. Embiid scored 34 points with 12 rebounds and six assists. He made nine of 11 free throws.

Brown also criticized Embiid's performance. "Embiid put a lot of pressure on us, like on all our bigs and our guards," he said. "We didn’t really have an answer for him. We tried a bunch of different things and he just, he’s a big body, and also he was flopping around, he got some extra calls and stuff like that, and they rewarded him for that. That’s the league that we’re in. So, that’s all I got to say."

In the playoffs, Brown averaged 25.7 points per game and shot 45.5% from the floor.

During the regular season, with Jayson Tatum sidelined for most games, Brown led the Celtics. He appeared in 71 games, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists.

Boston finished the regular season 56-26, second in the Eastern Conference.