Kings' Mike Brown Fined $50K For Viral Postgame Criticism of Referees

Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown was fined $50,000 in part for his postgame rant directed toward the officials following his team's 143-142 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night.

Brown, who was ejected in the fourth quarter and had to be restrained by players after storming toward referee Intae Hwang and screaming in frustration, brandished a laptop in his postgame press conference to show what he believed was inconsistency in foul calls throughout the game.

"The referees are human, and they're going to make mistakes, but you just hope that there's some sort of consistency and there's some sort of communication between the refs," he told reporters Sunday. "The refs tonight, they were great, they communicated with me all night. But in terms of consistency, you guys saw it right here. In my opinion, the consistency wasn't here tonight."

The Bucks ultimately held a 32-20 advantage in free throws and a 27-15 advantage in made free throws, undoubtedly a factor in the final outcome. It was an even more pronounced disparity in the first half, when the Bucks shot 14 more free throws than the Kings.

Still, Sacramento had a chance to win the game in overtime and fell short, thanks in part to Damian Lillard's heroic, game-winning three-pointer as time expired.

"We had a chance to win the game and we didn't get it done," Brown told reporters. "But I'm telling you, man, to go through [the inconsistency in calls], it's tough, man. It's tough to go through that."

Brown's postgame rant became something of a meme, and even Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and superstar Stephen Curry referenced it in their own press conferences this week:

Social media certainly had fun with the situation as well:

Brown is now the second head coach in the past week to blast the officials and get fined in the process. Last Tuesday, Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković didn't hold back on the officiating after a 132-131 loss against the Los Angeles Lakers.

"That's outrageous. What happened tonight, this is completely B.S.," he told reporters. "This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them, and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter? Like, how to play the game? I understand respect for All-Stars and all that, but we have star players on our team as well."

"They had to win tonight? If that's the case just let us know so we don't show up for the game, just give them a win," he added. "But that was not fair tonight."

The Lakers finished the game with a 36-13 advantage in free throws and a 23-2 advantage in the fourth quarter alone. Rajaković was fined $25,000 for his comments.