BOSTON — Jaylen Brown hasn’t had many off nights this season, but Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets was — for the most part — one of those nights.
Impressively, Brown still managed to put up a more-than-respectful respectable stat line of 33 points (14-29 FG), 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. That, on its face, is the sign of a superstar; an off-game coming in the form of 33 points on 48% shooting is a pretty great place to be.
Still, the Celtics fell 114-110 to the Denver Nuggets, snapping a four-game
win streak and tallying their first loss of 2026. And Brown played a step below his usual standards, turning the ball over 7 times, nearly twice his season average.
In the final 7 minutes, he tallied 3 turnovers and 3 fouls — and the Celtics were outscored by 14 points.
Postgame, after giving the Nuggets plenty of credit for their offensive execution and hot three-point shooting, Brown attributed some of his struggles to inconsistent officiating.
On a night when he relentlessly drove the ball through contact, the Celtics star attempted only three free throws, while being called for five fouls himself. (For reference, Brown averaged 8.7 free throws in December, before attempting a combined 5 free throws over his last two games.)
“For me, every time I get the ball, 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, it just — I just was getting blank faces when I was asking officials [about the calls].”
In the final four minutes alone, Brown was called for an offensive foul, finished an and-one jumper through contact, lost the ball, and got blocked at the rim.
After the loss, he took responsibility for allowing the officiating to impact him: “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.”
In the second half, the Nuggets forced 9 Celtics second-half turnovers (nearly as many as the Celtics average per game — 11.2, the lowest in the league). Denver was called for 15 fouls; the Celtics were called for 20.
“They were physical,” Brown said. “They got away with a lot. The refs allowed them to get away with a lot.”
Brown said he’s been used to getting calls he didn’t get on Wednesday, and that those missed calls led the Nuggets to get rolling offensively. Typically, Brown attempts the 10th-most free throws in the NBA at 7.3 per game.
“I normally get to my spots and go up and be physical and go to the basket, and I draw a lot of contact,” he said. “[I’m] one of the more aggressive players in the league, I drive a lot, you know? 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 see how the game is being called. Because if you don’t get some of those calls, and they look like bad shots, it kind of snowballs on defense.”
The Celtics star also said that next game, he’ll better adjust to the officiating; the Celtics host the Toronto Raptors on Thursday and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
“I still want to keep being aggressive,” Brown said. “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 the game night-to-night. Because every night the officiating is different, which is whatever — but I’ll be ready for the next game.”
