Celtics' Jaylen Brown Rips 'Unacceptable' Missed Call vs. Jazz, 'Costs Us a Game'
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown called it "unacceptable" for the referees to miss what looked like an obvious foul by the Utah Jazz's Keyonte George toward the end of Boston's 105-103 loss on Monday night.
"You can't have a mistake like that as an official at that point in the game," he told reporters. "It's [the] fourth quarter, it's a minute left in the game or less, and you completely, the whole staff blows the f--king call. Costs us a game."
George was guarding Brown on the perimeter when he slipped and seemingly caused Brown to stumble to the court. The officials didn't blow the whistle, allowing Jazz star Lauri Markkanen to score a go-ahead basket at the other end.
A lot of fans were left scratching their heads because the contact appeared clear in real time.
Referee Kevin Scott addressed the sequence after the game. He said in the pool report George and Brown both slipped on the same spot of the floor, adding that his opinion was unchanged after viewing subsequent replays:
In defense of the officials, Brown loses his footing independent of any contact from George. His left foot slides out from under him in about the same area where George went down. Based on the television broadcast, the contact between the players may have been a split-second after Brown started to slip.
The fact the referees didn't whistle a tripping foul is nonetheless surprising because to the naked eye George executed an inch-perfect slide tackle on the four-time All-Star.
Intent is irrelevant. Accidentally impeding the dribbler is the same as intentionally sticking out a leg or foot to make them stumble.
The NBA's Last Two Minute Report should provide the final word on this because it will lay out whether the refs got it correct the first time around.
