Did Jaylen Brown deserve a better whistle in Celtics' loss to Nuggets? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jaylen Brown, who’s been unafraid to speak his mind this season, vented about a lack of whistles Wednesday night after the Boston Celtics lost to the Nikola Jokic-less Denver Nuggets at TD Garden.

Did Brown have a legitimate gripe with the officiating?

Brown was credited Wednesday night with 31 drives, which was one of his highest totals this entire season and nearly 75 percent more than his season average. But he drew just one foul off those drives, a rate of 3.2 percent. For the season, Brown is drawing 1.6 fouls on 17.8 drives per game, a rate of 9.2 percent.

Here’s a look at his season numbers on drives compared to Wednesday night:

Brown shot just three free throws — he missed a pair amid “MVP!” chants at one point in the second half — on a night when the Celtics generated just 15 free throw attempts overall. 

“They were physical and they got away with a lot,” Brown said of the Nuggets’ defense. “The refs allowed them to get away with a lot. I would have loved to get to the free-throw line a little bit more.

“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. I think their defense was good, but it wasn’t great.”

Brown ranks third in the NBA in drives per game, trailing only Portland’s Deni Avdija (20.4) and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (18.1). Brown is second in drive points per game, trailing only Gilgeous-Alexander (13.5).

Feeling like he wasn’t getting a good whistle earlier this season, Brown repeatedly expressed frustration with officials. His free throws slowly climbed from 6.0 per game in October, to 7.1 per game in November, to 8.7 per game in December.

Denver’s size and physicality clearly disrupted Boston’s offensive flow multiple times Wednesday night, most notably early in the fourth quarter, when the Nuggets went on a 16-3 run over a nearly five-minute span to tear open a game that had previously been tied at 90. 

Brown struggled with ball security, turning the ball over four times on drives and seven times overall. But given his high number of credited drives, it’s easy to understand his frustration after drawing only one whistle.