The turning point of the meeting between the Celtics and the Bulls took place at the start of the 4th quarter. Jayson Tatum is on the bench, and the Bulls take advantage of this to start the quarter with a 17-4, including a 12-0.
Boston is on the ropes, and to make matters worse, the Celtics then lose their nerve. At the start, there is Jaylen Brown who struggles with a ball, but the referees whistle in between while he is waiting for a foul. Joe Mazzulla gets carried away and collects a new technique! Jaylen Brown too.
Then two minutes later, it was Jayson Tatum who received his own. At the finish, three technical fouls for the Boston leaders, and three free points for Zach LaVine. For Jaylen Brown, referee Justin Van Duyne was overzealous. “I told him that he had whistled a technique for no good reason” defends Jaylen Brown about his technique. “He told me that if I repeated that again, he would give me a technique… You can't threaten players with a technical foul, it's not sport. If you want to sanction players for gestures and that sort of thing, OK. But that was bullshit…”
Joe Mazzulla wanted to wish them a Merry Christmas…
During and after the match, the referees justified Joe Mazzulla's technique by the fact that he had put one foot on the field. “I got on the field, and they have a job to do” replied the Boston coach.
Except that the coach did not stop there since at the end of the match, he attacked the same referee. His assistants had to restrain him and take him to the locker room to prevent things from getting out of hand.
But what did he want to tell them? “I haven’t seen them in a while. Just wish them a Merry Christmas, and happy holidays! » he quips.
