Officials have been facing a flood of criticism following Friday’s dismissal of Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics’ game against the New York Knicks. This is understandable given that Jayson Tatum was also ejected from a game just a week ago.

Just over seven minutes into the game, Brown was assessed two technical fouls for fouling Immanuel Quickley. Brown was only defending his drive and didn’t touch the Knicks player, so the foul call was a bit mild.

As a result, Brown took it upon himself to lodge a formal complaint with the official who had blown the whistle. Brown persisted in his arguments even after being benched; the official took exception to the Celtics guard’s remarks and issued his second technical foul, eliminating him from the game.

Since benching players fоr expressing disapprоval has becоme standard practice in the NBA fоr 2023–24 seasоn, Celtics suppоrters were understandably angry with the оfficials. Nоt lоng agо, Jaysоn Tatum was himself remоved fоr what was called a “hоstile act”—arguing with referees.

A lot of people think the officials are picking on the Celtics and their superstars on purpose. For some, it was enough to see the officials putting their egos ahead of the sport.

“We need to address the issue of these referees abusing their power because there will be a game where a player touches them,” remarked a critic.

“Terrible ejection,” stated a further one. Why have referees become so terrible in all sports?

This referee needs to leave the NBA. A third Celtics fan remarked that the league is perplexed as to why it should engage in bizarre practices like an IST and hire obnoxious individuals like this fool.

“This guy bооted Jaylen frоm acrоss the cоurt, prоbably cоuldn’t even hear what he said frоm the bench,” an irate suppоrter chimed in. This is getting оld, man. If yоu really must T-bоne sоmeоne, then t-bоne them. But this kind оf expelled guy is really incredibly gentle.

Even though Jaylen Brown was ejected, the Celtics still managed to win the game, 133-123. Surprisingly, Derrick White scored 30 points to lead Boston, and Tatum chipped in 25. Brown was ejected with 17 points and 4 assists on the game’s final play.

Next up for Boston is a matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and with all the tech-happy calls they’re making, the attention will naturally be on the referees.