Jaylen Brown cares.
He cares about basketball. He cares about winning. And he cares about getting the credit for being as good as he is.
He won’t ever come out and say that last part, but he’ll come close. He’ll say enough to let you know that it bothers him, even though he won’t say it bothers him.
Brown sat at the podium on Thursday night, fresh off a career-best 40 playoff points, looking like he was stewing over a loss. The Celtics had just gone up 2-0 and he was the major reason why Boston got both of those wins. He was also about 26 hours removed from finding out he didn’t make an All-NBA team.
Did he find that snub to be motivational?
“No I wouldn't say that. I mean, we're two games from the Finals,” he said. “So honestly, I don't got the time to give a f---.”
If you say so.
His relentless attacking of the Pacers defense hinted otherwise, though I suppose any player of Brown’s caliber could have a big offensive night against the “defense” he was facing. Snub or no snub, Brown might have dropped 40 either way in Game 2.
Still, there was something more to this game. He might say he didn’t give any Fs, but his performance felt like a big one directed at someone.
“I mean, I watch guys get praised and anointed who I feel like is half as talented as me on either side of the ball,” Brown said after the game, giving in to his emotions for a brief second. “But at this point in my life, I just embrace it. It comes with being who I am and what I stand for, and I ain’t into changing that. So I just come out and I’m grateful to step out onto the floor each and every night, put my best foot forward and get better each and every year. Whether people appreciate it or not, it is what it is.”
By just about any measure, Brown is having the best playoffs of his career coming off his best-ever regular season. He’s been consistent on both sides of the ball, and he has sacrificed his own stats to be part of a team that sits two wins away from the NBA Finals. He has worked to become a more well-rounded player, which is what was asked of him because it's what’s best for the group.
“Jaylen is just one of my favorite people,” Joe Mazzulla said. “He understands that winning is the most important thing. So he has an innate ability to just get better and to work hard, motivation, he has unreal confidence, but he’s also not afraid to work on things that he knows he has to get better at. So you see him every day at shoot around or practice, he’s out there with six or seven coaches working on every possession, every spacing imaginable so that he sees his reads.”
And that's one of the things that stood out the most in his Game 2 performance. He protected the ball and passed it when he needed to. He only had two turnovers, one of which didn’t amount to anything and one that came after Rick Carlisle decided his team was done.
“Poise, patience, discipline, the proper actions, getting to the right spacing, and picking and choosing his spots really well,” Mazzulla said “Takes a lot of pride in his ability to impact the game in different ways, and I thought he did that tonight.”
Maybe it’s best that Brown doesn’t get the accolades he wants right now. Maybe he needs that fuel to push him. Maybe he should just wait until he wins a championship and soak in the love and adoration then. There are six more wins to go, so getting the love at this point will almost spoil the story.
I know he cares about it. He’s a human with human feelings. We all know the feeling of not getting the credit we deserve at work. We know that can suck.
Brown deserves a lot of credit, and certainly more than he’s getting. His face isn’t in a lot of the NBA’s promotional material for these playoffs, but he’s the guy who's doing a lot of the heavy lifting to get the Celtics where they want to be.
“He just cares about the right stuff,” Mazzulla said. “But obviously I think stuff like that does motivate him, but I know he also really wants to win, and he has a growth mindset and wants to get better. I really enjoy coaching him, and really watching him work.”
