Tonight’s game between the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs took a turn. Celtics star Jaylen Brown’s ejection took all the attention from the matchup itself, and the interactions leading up to it were subject to a lot of scrutiny. Now, many might be wondering about the referee with whom Brown started the exchange. Here’s everything you need to know about Tyler Ford.

Who is Ford? Everything to Know About the NBA Referee

Tyler Ford is an Ohio native in his 11th season as an NBA referee, having officiated nearly 600 regular season games, as well as 51 playoff games, including one in the NBA Finals. Ford has extensive experience as a game official, also having spent four seasons as a WNBA official, as well as a D1 college basketball referee for three seasons in the Big Ten, Mid-American Conference, and the Summit League.

Ford also has experience in the G League, where he served five years, during which he officiated the 2015 Finals and the 2014 All-Star Game.

“That jacket’s really sweet and it’s sort of our trophy,” Ford said about officiating the Finals. “There’s a special significance to the white jacket. Everybody’s who’s been in the Finals or aspires to do the Finals recognizes that. You get one when you’re an alternate because you walk out there and you take a picture and you’ve got to be prepared, but it’s a little different when you’re actually one of the 12 and you’ll be working on the floor.”

Ford previously served a six-year stint as the assistant director of intramural sports at Purdue University ending in 2015. He has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sports Administration from Ball State University.

Jaylen Brown vs Tyler Ford? Know the Reason Why He Tossed the Former From Spurs-Celtics

During tonight’s game between the Spurs and the Celtics, with about 3:40 seconds left on the clock, Jaylen Brown was pushed out of bounds by Stephon Castle, but no foul was called on the Spurs guard, and the ball went to them.

Ford was watching the play, and him not calling the foul led to Brown getting into an animated argument, and after letting Brown pass for a bit, the official called a technical. Right afterwards, Brown was even more frustrated, barking at the refs, leading to another official, Suyash Mehta, to call a second technical foul to send Jaylen Brown to the locker room.

Brown had to be held back by players, head coach Joe Mazzulla, assistant coach Sam Cassell, and even arena security, before he threw his hands into the air in disgust and walked away.

Just a few minutes after his ejection, Brown took to social media to voice his frustration, posting on X, “This the s— I be talking about.”

This marks just the second time in his career that Brown has been ejected from a game, with the first happening in December 2023 against the New York Knicks.