NBA Addresses Joe Mazzulla’s Foul Claim From Celtics Loss To Pacers
The Boston Celtics suffered a controversial 98-96 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, and it was very clear afterwards that head coach Joe Mazzulla was not happy with the officiating in the game. As it turns out, he had good reason to be upset with what he saw.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the score tied at 96, Pascal Siakam scored a go-ahead bucket with just a few seconds left. Before he did so, though, he set a hard screen on Derrick White that helped free him up to get a good look for the eventual game-winning shot.
Mazzulla was infuriated that Siakam was not whistled for an illegal screen. In fact, at his postgame press conference, Mazzulla answered every question by simply saying “illegal screen.” On Tuesday, the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report for this game was released, and it revealed that the officials did miss an illegal screen set by Siakam on this play.
Had this been called correctly, the Celtics would have had an opportunity to win the game at the buzzer. Assuming nothing went catastrophically wrong, Boston would have had a shot to win in overtime at the very least, which is a much better situation to be in than the one the team actually found itself in as a result of this missed call.
All season long, the C’s have had gripes with the way officials have been calling their games. Jaylen Brown’s frustration with the referees reached its breaking point after the team’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs, as he publicly berated the officials from the game during his postgame press conference, resulting in him earning a $35,000 fine.
The Celtics can’t do much about this, other than continuing to go out and play the best basketball they possibly can. Boston will be back in action on Thursday night when it squares off against the Miami Heat, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.