Jaylen Brown found himself in foul trouble throughout much of Friday night’s loss to the Cavaliers.

Brown had three in the first half, even though Derrick White saved him from one that could have easily been called on him. There was contact on a shooting attempt from Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, and White raised his hand and acted like the foul was on him.

But, in Brown’s opinion, there was a loose ball foul call in the third quarter that helped swing the momentum in Cleveland’s favor.

The Celtics were up by 14 with 7:08 remaining when the foul was called. It was the fourth foul on Brown. Joe Mazzulla subbed Brown out for Payton Pritchard right after the call.

With Brown on the bench, Cleveland launched a run that sliced Boston’s lead down to three by the end of the quarter.

“Yeah, I think that changed the game,” Brown said. “I got an offensive foul call on the rebound where I felt like it was just in the paint, going for the basketball. That kind of shifted the game for sure. It is what it is. Wish we could get it back. I don’t think it was a foul, but when these little guys flop they’re just inclined to call it.”

Brown had a stellar game offensively, pouring in 37 points on 13 of 24 shooting and going 4 of 6 from 3-point range. The Celtics missed his scoring while the Cavaliers went on their run.

Boston was already shorthanded without Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, but Brown said their absences weren’t an excuse.

“I think it was a good fight,” Brown said. “Give credit to Cleveland, they played well, shot the ball incredibly well, made timely baskets and climbed back into the game on the road. It’s tough to do.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” He added. “Do I think we had enough to win the game? I think so for sure. We’ll look at it on film and get better and see spots where we can improve on, but regardless of who was sitting out we should have won this game.”

Brown returned to action Friday night after missing Wednesday night’s loss against the Pistons with a thigh contusion. He played 34 minutes against the Cavs.

“I’ve had worse, but it was decent enough that I couldn’t go in Detroit,” Brown said. “I didn’t feel my best to start the day, but that’s a part of it. You get ready for later in the season when you don’t always feel your best either. You’ve just got to come out and do what you’ve got to do for your team. Tonight I felt like we had enough to win the game, but we just came up short.”