New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown was slapped with his second technical foul of the season during the recent game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which he lost 111-100. He was handed his first technical earlier this month, and it ironically happened while his team was facing the Thunder.

Furthermore, on both occasions, Brown was slapped with the technicals for arguing with officials over supposed negligence and disparity in free-throw attempts. Mike Brown addressed these issues in the postgame media session, choosing his words very carefully to avoid fines.

"It was a hard-fought ball game, but the thing I was most disappointed in is the energy we expended on the officials," Brown said. "They shot 38 free throws. Were all of them legit? I don't know. Some of them were because we reached."

He continued, "And you can't reach versus this team because the team does a fantastic job, starting with SGA, of getting the officials to believe a foul has occurred. Their gamesmanship is off the charts. They do a great job of exploiting it, so I tip my hat off to them."

What caused Brown to become frustrated was the discrepancy in the number of free throws awarded. The Knicks committed 25 fouls, while the Thunder were called for 22. Oklahoma City received 38 free throw attempts, whereas New York was awarded only 17.

This disparity played a big role in the Knicks' loss, as the Thunder converted 31 of their free throws, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander himself landing 13 out of his 16 attempts.

Brown didn't just dislike how many free throws OKC shot, but how much the officials denied them to the Knicks.

And while Brown's frustration this time around was directed at almost everyone, his comments after his first technical were aimed specifically at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Mike Brown on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander After First Technical Foul

Brown's grievances with the reigning MVP dated back to their March 4 meeting in New York, where a first-quarter no-call pushed him over the edge.

With just about two minutes left, Gilgeous-Alexander drove to the basket and ran into Jalen Brunson, who went down trying to take the charge.

However, referees waved off what would have been Shai’s third personal foul of the night. Brown stormed toward the sideline official and was handed his first technical of the season.

The Knicks went on to lose 103-100, with Brunson missing two potential game-tying threes in the final seconds. That being said, Brown called Gilgeous-Alexander out by name during the postgame media session.

"SGA, he's a tough cover," Mike Brown said. "He does a great job of convincing the referees, probably better than anybody in the league, that he's getting hit."

He added, "That should've been his third. The bucket shouldn't have counted and we should've gone the other way with the basketball. Jalen is standing there, putting his body on the line and our guys are fighting their a— off to win the ball game, and it just didn't sit well with me."

Do you think Mike Brown’s anger was justified? Let us know!

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Arvind Rao