Celtics star calls out officiating after Nuggets loss

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Celtics star calls out officiating after Nuggets loss

Brian Robb · MassLive

Thu, Jan 8, 2026 ·

3 min read

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BOSTON — The Celtics saw their four-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday night with a 119-115 loss against an undermanned Nuggets team.

Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 33 points in the defeat but the Celtics star took issue with officiating in the setback after Boston garnered just 15 free throw attempts in the defeat. Brown tallied just three on the night despite taking a game-high 29 field goal attempts. He averages a career-high 7.3 free throw attempts per game this season.

“I mean, they were physical. They got away with a lot,” Brown said. “The refs allowed them to get away with a lot. I’d love to get to the free-throw line a little bit more. I was physical, I was aggressive, I went up strong. I didn’t flop, but I kind of let the officiating get to my head a little bit.”

Outside of an off shooting night in Monday’s win over the Bulls, Brown has been one of the hottest players in the NBA over the last month, earning him MVP chants from the Garden crowd on Wednesday night. However, the 29-year-old was not pleased with the lack of consistency from officials on Wednesday night.

“I’m looking to be aggressive. If I feel contact, I’m gonna go through it,” Brown said. “I’m gonna go strong. But tonight, I was just getting blank faces when I was asking officials. They just decided, the last 10 games has been free throws; tonight, it wasn’t. So it is what it is.”

The lack of scoring at the free throw line proved costly in the second half as Boston went cold from the field especially in the fourth quarter (34 percent). After the loss, Brown indicated he would be ready to tweak his own plan moving forward based on how a game is flowing moving forward.

“I’m one of the more aggressive players in the league,” Brown said. “I drive a lot. And the whistle didn’t equate to that. Maybe they wanted to make an emphasis, I don’t know. But I’ll adjust for the next game and kind of see how the game is being called. Because if you don’t get some of those calls, and they look like bad shots, and it kind of snowballs on defense.

“I still want to keep being aggressive. That’s what I do. That’s what my team wants me to do. But balancing it, picking and choosing my spots based on how they officiate in the game night-to-night. Because every night the officiating style is different, which is whatever, but I’ll be ready for the next game.”

The Celtics continue their homestand on Friday night when they host the Raptors at 7 p.m.

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