NBA News and Rumors: Jae Crowder Says Wizards Coach Cursed at Him
Saturday's game between the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards was a nail-biter, where Jae Crowder's layup with a little over three seconds left gave his Celtics the win, 119-117. But it didn't end without controversy, though, as Crowder was assessed a technical foul in the final minute of the game due to an argument with an official.
The interesting part is that Crowder claims the exchange was caused by Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman cursing at him. "I feel like he was getting away with a lot of curse words and inappropriate words to me, and I retaliated and I got hit," the 25-year-old forward said. He added that the official who called the technical, Tony Brothers failed to hear any of those cursing from the Wizards coach and that he wouldn't be saying something bad if there was no reason.
Meanwhile, Wittman did not provide any response or comment to what Crowder accused him of because he already finished the postgame news conference when the Celtics enforcer revealed it to the press. Wizards point guard John Wall, on the other hand, said that he heard Crowder say something toward the bench and then somebody responded and went back at him.
For Crowder, he was confused as to why Wittman targeted him at that instance.
The technical foul was called with just 22.8 seconds left on the clock and Boston holding on a four-point lead. John Wall was about to take free throws when the whistle was blown. Crowder immediately went to Brothers to air his side, but the referee said he heard nothing from the coach.
The momentum swung after the call, starting with Gary Neal hitting the technical free throw and Wall hitting his two. Washington then proceeded by tying the game in the next possession, but Crowder converted on a layup with just 3.9 seconds left. That was the last basket of the game.