Jaylen Brown: Will he be enough in Year 8?
- Thread starter MyDaughterLovesTomGordon
- Start date
JB was the best player on the floor. I thought he had a mediocre series against Miami (he seems to have the yips against them on offense), but last night was the leveled up version of JB we saw during the middle of the season. If he maintains near that level, nobody can stop Boston.
After this round, of course, the defensive pressure on him will most certainly step up.
After this round, of course, the defensive pressure on him will most certainly step up.
The way teams are loading attention on to Tatum when he initiates his half court sets, the worst thing the rest of team can do is stand around and wait for something to happen. We need other folks to be decisive and aggressive and punish the defense for what they're doing. There are situations where the answer is "yes, look for your own shot and take it"
This is what Brown has been doing in both series this year. Whether or not his shot is falling, the ways he's been coming out of the gate and destroying teams in the first quarter is just what the doctor ordered
Until defenses change, he should keep playing the way he has been
This is what Brown has been doing in both series this year. Whether or not his shot is falling, the ways he's been coming out of the gate and destroying teams in the first quarter is just what the doctor ordered
Until defenses change, he should keep playing the way he has been
They did a lot of work this year on running "postseason offense" in the regular season, where you identify mismatches and either punish them, or quickly force rotations.
Brown was a huge beneficiary of that, and he and White in particular are really purposeful about turning minor advantages into rotations or direct scoring.
Great post.
I thought he was good in the Miami series (despite the horrid FT shooting and below average 3P shooting).
He's been very decisive and intentional in getting to the rim and playing pretty fast, yet more in control than in years past. There just aren't many players that have a prayer of stopping JB when he gets a head of steam or when he decides to fgo to the hoop
Brown was the key tonight as he was an efficient 13/17 FG with 2/3 3PT to go along with the game's best +18.
P. S. It was almost miraculous/fortunate that he only got 2 FT (missed them both). He's now at 62.1%. That's the 6th worst % among remaining players with 2+ games played.
P. S. It was almost miraculous/fortunate that he only got 2 FT (missed them both). He's now at 62.1%. That's the 6th worst % among remaining players with 2+ games played.
Is JB actually the leader of the team?
Love this quote by the way.
"We didn't come to Cleveland for the weather, so let's go."
Love this quote by the way.
"We didn't come to Cleveland for the weather, so let's go."
Imo JB has benefitted more than anyone from Smart going, in terms of leadership. Opened up a clear space for his voice.
His FT shooting dip is definitely odd, it's in his head. Only 70% in the regular season too, his worst in many years.
I think he’s stepping into a bit of a void, but that he and Tatum are evolving into a yin-yang leadership team. Tatum is the alpha on the court, but he’s just too mild-mannered to be the hype man. JB sees that and is back-filling as best he can with rev-em-up stuff on a team that’s so businesslike sometimes.
A guy like Brady had both the insane drive to perfection (Tatum) and the LETS FUCKING GO on field charisma (Smart, Josh Hart, etc). Sometimes a team needs multiple guys to fill different leadership needs.
It’s clear Tatum wants the ball and isn’t scared of the moment and loves the idea of making everyone better, but JB seems to see that Tatum isn’t going to get in guys’ faces.
Although it sounds like Tatum was the hype man leading to the 14-0 run after halftime, so maybe that’s all bullocks.
Seemed like he greatly increased his LH usage after watching Kyrie abuse defenders with the left.
People were also talking crap this off-season about how you just have to make sure he doesn't go to his right, that he can't finish with his left, and I think he Took That Personally (insert Jordan GIF). You might recall there were several moments this season where he finished with his left, and then went back down the court holding out his hand in shock, presenting the hand to his teammates, etc. Scal always enjoyed those. But yeah he really worked on it a lot the last year or two and it shows, especially now. Whatever book opponents have on him is out of date.
This team doesn't have any crazy hype/energy players (unless you count Mazzulla or the Cryptoscammer). At some point they will probably need Jaylen to bring some of that to the table, even if it's a bit of a stretch for him. Although if they play Indy and then Denver or something, they may not have any of those crazy/chippy series during this run.
Some great bulletin board material for the Cavs, but I love it anyway. Tell 'em, Jaylen!
View: https://twitter.com/NoaDalzellNBA/status/1790210632551207257
View: https://twitter.com/NoaDalzellNBA/status/1790210632551207257
up to 80% from the line this series (16/20). After an almost difficult to believe 45% vs heat (9/20).
Like I said after the Heat series, Jaylen just needed to get away from Spo, who gets in his head a bit I think.
His first two FTs last night were real clunkers, but I think him getting right from the line after that was probably the best development of the night (other than the W). Didn't stop Greg Anthony from advocating for him to get fouled at the end.
When Jaylen plays to his strengths, and the team uses him as a play finisher, his efficiency fucking skyrockets, same for the team.
Hope to see that continue.
Hope to see that continue.
With White struggling, Jaylen stepping up has been huge. Jrue is filling a vacuum at the right time too, but Jaylen has been aggressive and smart like White had been for games four and five in Miami and game one v Cleveland. Really needed it.
It’s funny, and shows how hard things are to predict. the Jaylen/Jrue pairing has been killing it, much more so than Jaylen and White.
Jaylen/Jrue on/Tatum off: +17.5
Jaylen/White on, Tatum off: -10.5
There’s nothing to take from it going forward, but I’m pleasantly surprised with the JB/Jrue minutes.
I pointed out his assist to turnover ratio after the Miami series. But ive come to care more about his turnover rate being low. They aren’t asking him to create for others, almost at all, so I don’t care about the number of assists compared to turnovers lol. It’s his third lowest TO rate of his playoff career, and much lower than the last two years.
It's funny, because during the regular season, they always paired Jaylen with White, and his rating cratered without Derrick. You could do any combo of guys with Jaylen: as long as DWhite was there with him, the lineups were good.
There is an eyetest component here though: White has been awful the past 3 games. He just can't beat his man, ever, even with an advantage from a screen. They're bodying him on drives, and he's not getting the ticky-tack foul on his drive to the floater that he's used to.
That’s why I mentioned it being funny and hard to predict, because if you had two pick two players on the team whose game don’t really matchup, it’s Jaylen and Jrue. But it’s working quite well lol.
You know I agree about White, but I’m pretty confident he gets it going again.
I believe he missed his first 2 and then didnt miss another one after that
White is battling something. Not sure if he has a cold or pulled something, but he's not really himself right now at either end. Garland/Mitchell aren't good matchups for anyone, be he seems lost at times on D lately and isn't effective on offense.
When Tatum is playing 43 minutes a game it's hard to read much into his off court minutes.
Wasn’t really related to Tatum, just showing how well Jaylen and Jrue have played together, after it being the opposite in the regular season.
Oh wow, I had no idea it was that much better this series. Just saw the overall number and the two misses last night and thought it was still an issue. Sounds like he's more or less back in his own head after that blip vs Miami.
(all small-sample-size caveats apply. Over the last 5 regular seasons Jaylen is .744 from the line, and in the playoffs those years he is... also .744 from the line)
Jay King does an interview with Jaylen, with a lot of good perspective on why the team is under the microscope and why the coverage of us is so slanted, even cynical - and what he's doing about it (ignore it all, be a robot, etc).
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5498299/2024/05/16/jaylen-brown-celtics-knicks-pacers-nba-playoffs?source=user-shared-article
View: https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/1791109912572891320
"Jaylen Brown is in his sixth Eastern Conference finals in eight seasons. That type of winning, without a ring, comes with heavy pressure. It took him a while to get used to the scrutiny.
I spoke to Brown about the consistent deep playoff runs, his evolution, the Celtics’ matchup against either the Knicks or Pacers, and more.
“You’ve gotta embrace that villain,” he said. “And as I’m getting older I’m starting to embrace it more. Embracing not giving a fuck whether they see (his value) or don’t see it, whether they appreciate it or don’t appreciate it. I’m focused on helping my team, helping my family, helping the city and I go from there.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5498299/2024/05/16/jaylen-brown-celtics-knicks-pacers-nba-playoffs?source=user-shared-article
View: https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/1791109912572891320
"Jaylen Brown is in his sixth Eastern Conference finals in eight seasons. That type of winning, without a ring, comes with heavy pressure. It took him a while to get used to the scrutiny.
I spoke to Brown about the consistent deep playoff runs, his evolution, the Celtics’ matchup against either the Knicks or Pacers, and more.
“You’ve gotta embrace that villain,” he said. “And as I’m getting older I’m starting to embrace it more. Embracing not giving a fuck whether they see (his value) or don’t see it, whether they appreciate it or don’t appreciate it. I’m focused on helping my team, helping my family, helping the city and I go from there.”"
This tracks to what we're seeing out there. Folks get extra physical with JB and JT, and they push right back. Former teammates, buddies on other teams, does not matter. Especially Jaylen. He's not letting folks push him around anymore. It's great watching these guys grow up.
It feels like the team's stars decided that everyone was going to hate them anyway, so may as well get paid tons of money and focus on what impacts winning.
Has anyone noticed that the "Jaylen gets beat offball" stuff mostly stopped? He's locked in on that end to another level this year as the season has gone on.
Yeah he has definitely paid better attention to that stuff. I think that he's now within the band of most players where it can still happen but isn't a pattern anymore.
i think he still does it now and then and i definitely notice since it has always been a thing but definitely less.
As jimbo said, he does it at "normal defender gets beat" levels now. Happens to literally everyone in the league.
Context? I swear more than half of these types of posts I have no clue what the reference is and no one ever gives any explanation when they share them lol
It looks like a reference to the book and movie Dune. Dune 2 just had a successful run in theaters.
I picked up on that, I just don’t know the books/movies. What is JB trying to say?
