Apr 5, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) shoots a layup against Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl (19) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Jaylen Brown Says He's Copying Backup Center's Moves to Impove Finishing at the Rim

Originally posted on Boston Celtics on SI
By John Karalis | Last updated Apr 7, 2026 2:54 PM ET

Jaylen Brown’s Twitch streams have been a mix of a lot of basketball and non-basketball things, and sometimes in his stream of consciousness, he drops some fun little nuggets about the Boston Celtics.

In his latest stream, while going through some game film, Brown launched into a praise of backup center Luka Garza.

“Luka Garza all season long has been a dog, has been a killer, one of my favorite players this year,” Brown said. “He's been dominant on the glass. He's been knocking down open threes. He plays with passion. We're gonna need that. We're gonna need that in different matchups in the playoffs.”

Garza has always made the most of his opportunities. According to Synergy Sports, Garza in the 87th percentile in finishes off pick-and-rolls. He’s in the 70th percentile on put-backs, and most impressively, in the 95th percentile on spot-ups. He’s Boston’s best three-point shooter this season, hitting 44% of his long-range shots. No other current Celtic is over 40% (Josh Minott hit 44.2% of his 77 3-point attempts).

But Brown’s love for Garza’s game goes a little deeper than just appreciation.

“He does, like, his finishes,” Brown said. “He's still able to figure out how to score the ball and how to be creative around the basket. At first it was like, okay, and then after a while I started noticing, like, Luka be really killing people, like dominating the glass and can't jump over a brick. So, like, what is it?

“So I started watching his workouts, and you learn from people that's around. So I've learned from Luka this season, and he'll tell you, like, even some of his slow steps and some of his pump fakes, I've been orchestrating into my game.”

Garza will be the first to tell you he’s not the most athletic guy in the league, so his finishing around the rim has to be, as Brown said, creative. Garza is very much in on the recent trend of deceleration steps and slowing down to throw the defense’s timing off so he can finish around the rim.

Brown isn’t kidding about stealing those moves, either.

“I started incorporating the slow step, and that definitely throws defense’s timing off,” Brown said. “It's hard to guard, so I definitely will continue to use that going forward, but then balancing it out, when they use the slow step, and then when to just go up and just dunk the ball.”

Brown doesn’t need much help scoring. He leads the NBA in total field goals made and attempted, and it third in total points. But the most impressive element of Brown’s game is how much he’s polished it over the last few seasons. His dribbling is tighter and his vision and ball-distribution have been excellent. His finishing at the rim has been more creative than ever, and now we know Garza has a hand in that evolution.

“He's been a great teammate,” Brown said. “He embodies that mentality. It is not all about talent, not all about skill level, but he plays hard and is creative.”

This article first appeared on Boston Celtics on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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