Jamahl Mosley complains about officiating in Celtics-Magic Game 4 – NB

We’ve reached the gamesmanship portion of the Boston Celtics’ first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic.

After Boston’s 95-93 loss to Orlando in Game 3, Jaylen Brown shared some pointed comments about the Magic’s physical play, which included three flagrant fouls in three games and a Cole Anthony takedown of Brown that dislocated the Celtics star’s finger.

“There might be a fight break out or something,” Brown said Friday night. “Because it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball, and the refs are not controlling the environment. So, it is what it is.

“If you want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”

While the Magic ended their flagrant foul streak in Sunday’s Game 4, they continued their physical style of play — but this time it cost them. Orlando committed 24 personal fouls, resulting in the Celtics making a season-high 30 free throws on 32 attempts en route to a 107-98 win.

After the game, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley decided to play his own officiating card.

“We were attacking the basket the exact same way,” Mosley told reporters. “Now, we didn’t knock them down when we got there. We had to understand that the calls, the whistle was going to head in that direction after what’s been said. So we have to continue to just be smart there, hold our ground, get positioning earlier and make sure we show our hands.”

Mosley apparently feels that Brown’s comments influenced the officiating in Game 4 and led to Sunday’s discrepancy in free throws (Orlando made just 14 of 20 free throw attempts). So, this appeared to be Mosley’s attempt to lobby the refs ahead of Tuesday’s Game 5 and swing the foul margin closer to the Magic’s favor.

“I always look at our ability to attack the rim. … Them shooting, let’s just say, 26 free throws before the back stretch; you look at those margins and they’re very similar attacks, but it’s not the same foul count,” Mosley…