Did Jaylen Brown get away with a dirty play on Max Strus in Cavaliers-Celtics Game 4?

Game 4 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics could be make-or-break. So it's not surprising that both sets of players were ready to give it everything at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday.

Jaylen Brown may have given it a bit too much though.

The Celtics guard found himself under the officials' microscope in the second quarter after tripping Cavaliers guard Max Strus.

Replays showed rather clearly that Brown grabbed Strus by the ankle. The question was whether it would be a technical or a flagrant......except the refs decided neither.

Refs let Jaylen Brown off the hook for ankle grab of Max Strus

After looking at the play, officials decided that "Brown's contact, although illegal, was not unnecessary or excessive." He was hit with a common foul.

The broadcasters were scratching their heads and so were a lot of fans at home.

Surely Brown's contact was the definition of unnecessary. If he was just protecting his head that would make sense, but he got enough of a grip on Strus' ankle to pull back his sock. He wasn't protecting his head by doing that.

In no universe was it a basketball foul.

The refs called it the way they decided to call it and the game went on. Just file this away as another one of those instances when the officials don't make a lot of sense, especially because we've all seen similar infractions be ruled flagrant.

The Cavaliers went into halftime trailing 62-57. All things considered that was a good spot to be in. Trailing 2-1 in the series, they entered Game 4 without Donovan Mitchell because of an injury. They quickly fell behind by 13 but stormed back to keep things competitive.

Brown was 4-of-8 for 11 points, four rebounds and an assist in the first half. Strus stepped up in Mitchell's absence with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.