Mike Brown wasn’t around to watch Damian Lillard’s heroics in overtime as the Bucks beat the Kings, he was ejected in the fourth quarter over his frustration with the officiating.
Mike Brown had to be held back by Malik Monk after he was ejected from tonight's game 😬 pic.twitter.com/t36hpcy05g
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) January 15, 2024
Ejections often lead to interesting post-game coach pressers, but Brown raised the bar on post-game officiating rants — he brought out the laptop to show video clip receipts.
Mike busted out the film to break down why he got ejected tonight 😂 pic.twitter.com/7sO8yJ3g9y
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) January 15, 2024
Epic. Although calling this a rant is unfair — Brown is not flying off the handle, he’s calm, deliberate, brings evidence and even praises the officials for some things.
Will Brown get a fine for that? Of course. Will the league address any of it in the Last Two Minute Report? Not what Brown brought up, it wasn’t in the final minutes of the game or overtime.
The tension between coaches/players and referees is up. Often it is about clear communication, however, Brown said this officiating crew was great at communicating — it just didn’t do what it said. Words, not actions. The rift is growing, and its causes and potential solutions are far too complex to discuss in a couple of sentences. But there are no easy answers.
And as things continue down this road, we will get more coaching rants — but few, if any, the quality of this one from Brown.
