Ex-Cal Star Jaylen Brown Blossoms as Celtics' Leader

Payton Pritchard scored 42 points for Boston against the Cavs but made it clear to reporters how he regards Brown.

“He’s our best player,” Pritchard said. “What he’s capable of is affecting the game in different ways on different nights. You saw the night before — he had 41. 

“He can put on a scoring display and then have a night like tonight, with a triple-double, and still affect the game. That’s even more impressive because he missed shots he usually makes. So imagine if he hits those shots — he’s looking at a 30-point triple-double.”

Brown knew he would have to pick up the slack for Tatum, and he’s scoring more this season than Stephen Curry, James Harden and Kevin Durant. Over the past seven games, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP is producing 30.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals.

But it’s his ability to balance his game for what the team needs that best demonstrates his growth, Mazzulla said.

"To me, it's having a great balance of understanding when it's his time versus when it's time to make a play," Mazzulla said on his NBC Sports Boston post-game show. "And I think that's been a huge growth of his, not just this year, but I think in the past as well. 

"And that's what you want out of your best players. I think he takes just as much pride in watching someone else close the game as he does in closing it himself, and you kind of saw those plays that he was able to make throughout the game.”

While helping Boston to an 11-9 record and the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference standings, Brown also has become just the 14th Celtics player to score 12,000 career points. 

With 12,003 points and 62 games left on the regular-season schedule, Brown could realistically climb into the Celtics’ top-10, above current No. 10 Dave Cowens (13,192 points).

The Celtics’ all-time scoring leader is John Havlicek with 26,395 points. Paul Pierce (24,021) and Larry Bird (21,791) are Nos. 2 and 3. Bill Russell is eighth on the Boston scoring chart with 14,522 points.