Jaylen Brown reveals message to Anthony Edwards in familiar duel

BOSTON — As Anthony Edwards leads the West-best Timberwolves, Jaylen Brown has been a huge supporter of the young star’s progress. They’re both from the Atlanta area, so there’s been plenty of brotherhood and camaraderie from some of the game’s best guards.

With the Wolves and Celtics meeting up Wednesday, it was a duel between the top teams in each conference. The first iteration was plenty entertaining as the teams battled into overtime. That happened once again Wednesday as the Celtics prevailed in a wild 127-120 overtime victory. And with the two Atlanta-area guards battling, Brown revealed his message to Edwards.

“My whole thing was: not tonight,” Brown said after pouring in 35 points. “We can’t let him do what he’s been doing to everybody else, to us — especially after the first matchup. I think he got the best of us in that first matchup, and tonight, we wasn’t having it. So any chance we can get a guy to turn him over, take ill-advised shots. He made some tough ones still but I thought we did a good on him as a team. But nah, I definitely was the snake on the head of that.”

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As Jayson Tatum noted, the Celtics remember what Edwards did against them earlier this season. In a 114-109 overtime Wolves win back on Nov. 6, 2023, Edwards played his role perfectly as the rising star. The guard poured in a game-high 38 points as he was everywhere during the overtime period.

So with that dominant Edwards still on the Celtics’ mind, Brown took that matchup personally with plenty of talking included. Edwards got his with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists, shooting 11-for-25. That’s what he does as one of the best scorers in the league. But there was no chance the Celtics were going to let him cook like he did back in November, utilizing Brown and others to make life difficult for the young star. Edwards didn’t score in overtime, shooting 0-for-3 from the floor.

“He really just took the challenge,” Tatum said of Brown. “We’ve got a great memory. We remember playing those guys in Minnesota. We remember how it felt to lose that game and how the end of that game went. So we were really excited for this moment and it was great to see JB take that challenge.”

It was a plenty entertaining game Wednesday. The C’s had the early advantage, but the Wolves led for the majority of the second half. Boston even looked finished as the Wolves had a nine-point lead deep into the fourth quarter. But some Brown and Tatum heroics forced overtime, then Tatum exploded in the extra period. Tatum’s 45 points were the headlining performance, but Brown’s two-way play put a bow on the Celtics’ win. Not only are the C’s a league-best 29-8, but they also set a franchise record as they’re 18-0 at home to start the season.

At this point, the Celtics and Wolves are at different points in their development. The C’s are looking to take that final step as champions after so many near-misses over the past few years. The Wolves are trying to establish themselves as a threat in the West, but they have yet to win a playoff series with their current core. But on the hardwood, all that was seen Wednesday was two teams fighting out a great game as there were haymakers from both sides.

“Tonight was just a night where we’re playing against a young superstar in Anthony Edwards, where he’s going to be aggressive,” Brown said. “He’s young, he seeks matchups like this. You know he wants to play against big names and big teams because it’s an opportunity for him to showcase his greatness.”