Jaylen Brown Rises Up As Celtics Win Without Jayson Tatum

Celtics coach Joe Mazzula praised Brown, 28, the primary defender on New York backcourt star Jalen Brunson, who shot just 7 for 17 before fouling out. 

“Yeah, I think (Brown’s) leadership came on the defensive end, just his physicality, his presence, diving into the bench,” Mazzula said. “Took it upon himself to guard Brunson and set the tone, and he did that on both ends.”

Derrick White scored 34 points for the Celtics, but he gave credit to Brown, who came within two rebounds of his fourth career triple-double.

 “JB was unbelievable on both sides of the ball, the whole time he was out there,” White said. “He took it on himself to get us going, and we just followed his lead. Great game for 48 minutes, and he carried us.”

Brunson has been the Knicks’ best player throughout the playoffs, averaging 30.1 points through their first 10 postseason games.

“He’s tough. I give him all the credit in the world, he uses his body well, he’s physical, he knows how to sell and get those calls, he’s crafty,” Brown said of Brunson. “My goal was just to stay between him and the basket and play defense the best as they allowed me to. I feel like I can guard with the best of them.”

A four-time All-Star in his ninth NBA season, Brown said he had full confidence in his team after Tatum went down in Game 4 on Monday night.

“It’s easy to write things off, it’s unfortunate what happened with JT, but there’s basketball left to be played,” he said. “I believe in this group; don’t count us out yet.”

While he excelled as a scorer and facilitator on offense, Brown knew the game would be won or lost at the other end of the floor.

“Defense. That’s all I’m talking about, defense. Nothing easy, guard your guy, find a way to get stops, dig deep, win your matchups, play defense,” he said. “That’s pretty much been the emphasis.”

Brown acknowledged it took a moment for the Celtics to get their heads straight after realizing Tatum would not return this season.

“The air kind of left the room after hearing the news with JT, so we didn’t want to go out like that, we didn’t want to make excuses or give up or turn the season in like people would expect,” Brown said. 

“We just said to the guys, said to each other, just come out, keep an open mind, be ready to go, guard your ass off, and take it from there, and we were able to find a way to win tonight.”

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