NBA fines Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla $35,000 for postgame comments toward officials

NEW YORK — Joe Mazzulla's Christmas greetings were costly.

The NBA fined the Boston Celtics coach $35,000 on Saturday “for aggressively pursuing and directing inappropriate language toward a game official” at the end of his team's loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.

Mazzulla's outburst followed Boston getting whistled for three technical fouls — he got one, Jaylen Brown got one and Jayson Tatum got one — in the fourth quarter of that 117-108 loss. When time expired, Mazzulla appeared to have some angry words for referee Justin Van Duyne.

Mazzulla later said he was just trying to spread holiday cheer to the referee crew.

“I just hadn’t seen them in a while, so just a merry Christmas, happy holidays, wasn’t sure I was going to see them before the holiday,” Mazzulla explained in his postgame news conference. “I just can’t let a moment go by where you wish someone just the best to them and theirs and their families.”

Video of the exchange does not seem to indicate he was offering glad tidings.

Crew chief Tony Brothers said after the game that Brown got his technical for questioning the integrity of an official. Tatum got his technical for “an overt action towards an official,” Brothers said.

Brown said Van Duyne called him for a technical for no reason and that Mazzulla “didn't say anything” that would have merited a technical.

“You can't threaten guys with a technical foul,” Brown said.