The NBA fined Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla $35,000 on Saturday for his behavior towards officials during Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, which resulted in a 117-108 loss.
The league penalized Mazzulla for “aggressively pursuing and directing inappropriate language toward a game official,” the league announced.
Mazzulla initially received a technical foul for leaving the coach’s box and stepping onto the court during the fourth quarter. Both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum also received technical fouls before Mazzulla’s incident.
After the game, Mazzulla approached referee Justin Van Duyne to discuss the calls made during the game. When asked about the interaction, Mazzulla humorously stated, “I just hadn’t seen them in a while, so just a merry Christmas, happy holidays, wasn’t sure I was going to see them before the holiday,” Mazzulla said during his postgame press conference.
This lighthearted response likely helped Mazzulla avoid a more severe fine, similar to the one Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka received for confronting officials on the court and criticizing them in postgame remarks earlier this month.
Following the game, crew chief Tony Brothers revealed that Brown received a technical for questioning a referee’s integrity, according to the Associated Press. Tatum’s technical was for “an overt action towards an official.”
Brown disputed the technical he received, stating, “As a captain… I speak for my team. I’m allowed to talk, so when I tell you, ‘You called a tech for no reason’ and he says, ‘If you say that again, I’m gonna call that a tech,’ you’re just [using] your whistle as a threat. That’s not a part of the game.”
Two weeks prior, Brown was fined $25,000 for making a throat-slash gesture towards the Detroit Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart during their December 6 matchup.
The Celtics will face off against the Bulls again on Saturday, this time in Chicago.