BOSTON — Jaylen Brown publicly made it a goal of his last season that he wanted to make one of the league’s All-Defensive teams. But his campaign never really got off despite some tough matchups throughout the season as his teammates, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, got the honors instead.
But Brown’s work on the defensive end doesn’t go unnoticed by his teammates. After Brown was asked a question about his defense, Payton Pritchard came to his support in terms of all he does for the team and from a leadership perspective.
“At his size, you don’t see many people picking up full-court like that, guarding the best guards in the world,” Pritchard said. “Usually somebody his size would guard a wing, but he’s picking up the best point guards in the world full-court and then like you said, scoring 25. People don’t really understand how difficult that really is.
“They overestimate what that takes. He should definitely be in the All-Defensive team category because we give him the hardest assignments. It’s an exhausting thing, and he’s creating havoc and making things tough every night. So they definitely need to take notice.”
Brown showed his all-level play in the Celtics’ blowout win over the Pacers. He poured in a season-high 44 points on 16-for-24 shooting, including making his first nine shots. Brown’s endured some tough times recently, so the huge night was a nice boost as the C’s snapped a brief two-game losing streak.
Brown reinvented himself last season, which is why he had the goal to make an All-Defensive team in the first place. The C’s were all about sacrifice last year as Brown saw his counting stats dip compared to career-best marks. As a result, Brown focused more of his attention on defense. There’s a reason why he firmly believes “I’m one of the best two-way players in the world.”
While Brown is often snubbed for individual awards, that wasn’t the case near the end of last season. Brown wasn’t happy he missed out on All-NBA, but instead, he followed that up with an East Finals MVP then NBA Finals MVP. So the guy often overlooked got the awards on the massive playoff stage.
Brown talks about the physical toll it takes to play on both sides of the ball, adding fans don’t pay enough attention to defense. But regardless, Brown is trying to set that tone of physicality every night, whether it’s driving to the bucket or guarding the other team’s best player.
“I try to hang my hat on that side by doing different assignments like picking up guys full-court, chasing guys off screens, switching onto bigs,” Brown said. “That takes a lot of energy. Then to have to go back down and try to score 24, 25 a night, get other guys going. But defense is where our team kind of needs to set the tone and hang our hats — physicality, toughness. And I feel like I’m the leader of that, so I’ve got to hold myself accountable each and every night.”
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