The NBA is a copycat league, so don’t be surprised if the Dallas Mavericks film session involves less Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, and Luka Doncic and more Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, and Alan Rickman.
If they're going to keep up with Jaylen Brown and his magical Game 1 performance, then they have to keep up with his week-and-a-half of preparation.
“A lot of our guys probably spend time with their family,” Brown told Good Morning America. “But I don't have a family. I’m single. So I've been binge-watching Harry Potter.”
Brown cast a spell on the Mavs Thursday night, putting together perhaps the best playoff game of his career. Oh, he’s had much better overall scoring nights, but Brown has never been in control of a game quite like he was against Dallas.
“When you look at JB, he's somebody that has really worked on his craft year after year to just become a better player,” Jayson Tatum said of his All-Star teammate after Game 1. “I think you can tell by the way that the game has slowed down for him and the way he's making reads on the offensive end. That doesn't happen just overnight, it's a process. And I've seen it, I've seen the work that he puts in and watching film and things like that. So it's special to see when guys put in the work and it translates to on the court.”
Brown took the challenge of guarding Luka Doncic straight-up and picked his pocket twice, leading to easy dunks. He repeatedly roasted Doncic off the dribble, once for a signature poster slam on half the Mavs. And when the Celtics were in the process of rebuilding their lead after it dwindled to eight, Brown became an elite rim protector, blocking three shots in 94 seconds to make sure the “oh” part of a 14-0 run was kept intact.
“What you saw tonight is kind of the challenge he took for himself coming into the year, not wanting to be defined by one thing,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Usually when you give up a run and your offense gets a little stagnant, your defense goes with it. Tonight our defense kept us in it and that's really important, to have that defensive mindset. Some of those plays that Jaylen made were a part of that.”
There is little discussion of Brown’s evolution as a player. As a rookie, he played with less caution than Johnny Knoxville. He flew to the rim with no plan other than to figure it out mid-flight. Defensively, he let more people go backdoor than a speakeasy bouncer. Even with eight years of NBA basketball to soften the edges, there was never any reason to believe he’d be an All-Star, much less All-NBA, an Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and the best player on the floor in an NBA Finals game.
“Jaylen is the kind of guy that just works hard, has a chip on his shoulder,” Mazzulla said. “I enjoy watching him when he works. He has a huge growth mindset and he's going to look to dig deep into weaknesses that he wants to get better at, makes his strengths better, never skips a detail.”
Maybe that's why the Harry Potter character he feels a closest kinship with is Hermione Granger. Sure, she’s the smart one, which was the knock on Brown coming out of Cal, but that's not it.
“She's also the one that just keeps everybody on track. She's the one that gets stuff done, too,” Brown said. “That's me. Like, ‘we gotta get this done, I'm not waiting to the last minute.’ You got an assignment, we’re gonna get it done on the first day. We're not gonna wait to the last minute.”
The Celtics didn’t have to wait until the last minute of Game 1 to get the job done because Brown understood the assignment and executed it when the Celtics needed it most. This version of Brown would feast on rookie Jaylen. It’s like comparing a new iPhone to the first one. It’s hard to believe they're technically the same thing.
There aren’t many players who have improved the way Brown has. And while some might say it should come as no shock that a third overall pick grew into a pretty damn good player, the reality is that it took a lot of work to get to this point. This wasn’t just a case of waiting for maturation to kick in. This has been years of refining his game, breaking bad habits, building new ones, and redefining who he is.
This season began with a mocked video on social media showing Brown struggling to control a left-handed dribble. Now, one of Brown’s career highlights involves him driving left on his way to posterizing Kyrie Irving and Gafford. It’s a microcosm of his own evolution, one that took a long time, and one he gets little credit for.
“I feel like I don’t get the credit or respect that I’ve earned,” Brown said. “And I’m at a point of my life where I just, I don’t give a f---. I might never get it, and I’m okay with it. I am who I am, I do what I do, and I believe in what I believe. So the one who are with me, let’s rock and roll. And the ones who aren’t can kiss my ass.”
