It’s not uncommon for NBA coaches to get ejected during a game. To see them dispute an ejection by analyzing plays on a laptop in the postgame media session is a much rarer sight.
Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown may have been the first coach to do so after his team’s 143—142 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.
Brown turned a standard postgame press conference into a five-minute film session for the reporters in attendance, breaking down multiple clips from the game to dispute his ejection. The second-year Kings coach was thrown out early in the fourth quarter after a fiery confrontation with a referee over a no-call during which he had to be restrained by his own players.
In the media session, Brown highlighted two specific plays to argue that the referees had been making inconsistent calls all night.
The first was a play in which the Kings’ De’Aaron Fox was called for a shooting foul on the Bucks’ Damian Lillard from behind the three-point line.
“This is in the third quarter with 1:28 left,” Brown said as he cued up the clip. “Go back and watch. Fox barely puts his hand on Dame’s hip. Incidental contact. He didn’t push him or anything. He barely puts his hand there, and they give him three free throws.”
Mike Brown lights into the refereeing tonight in the Kings loss in Milwaukee. Brings out a laptop in his press conference to show film of the non-foul and foul that has him ticked off. Here is the five minute soundbite. pic.twitter.com/Q8InpkFh8B
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 15, 2024
Brown then compared that play with the no-call that got him ejected. In the fourth quarter, Fox spun around a defender and made contact with the Bucks’ Cameron Payne, who appeared to hook Fox’s arm. There was no whistle, and Brown stormed onto the court to argue.
Brown explained why he was so upset about the no-call, citing the referees’ inconsistency between that play and Fox’s foul on Lillard earlier in the game.
Said Brown, “Now, watch this right here. Fox comes off a pick-and-roll. The kid, Cam Payne, hooks him, hooks Fox’s arm. Look at Fox’s arm when he spins off of this. Hooks his arm. He almost falls. No incidental contact. He hooks his arm and almost falls, and there’s no foul.”
Brown continued, “If you get communication, and you get some form of consistency in the game, then you can live with some things. But the consistency that I [saw] tonight wasn’t—in my opinion—there.”
In terms of foul disparity, the Bucks took 32 free throws to the Kings’ 20. However, Sacramento missed several free throws at the end of the game which proved especially costly.
Brown’s well-intentioned and thorough attempt to dispute his ejection likely will result in a fine from the league.
Kings’ Malik Monk appeared to agree with Brown, delivering a much more succinct quip on the officiating: “I don’t want to get fined. But they miss a lot of calls with us. That’s all I’m going to say.”
The Kings dropped to 23–16, while the Bucks improved to 28–12.
