“Don’t get cute fellas": Jaylen Brown keeps Celtics' feet on ground after overwhelming Luka Doncic & co in Game 1 of NBA Finals
There was a lot of excitement heading into the Game 1 matchup between Jaylen Brown's Boston Celtics and Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks. There will be several discussions about the team's explosive offensive display, but Boston's defense helped garner a 1-0 lead via a 107-89 win. However, Brown isn't satisfied back in the locker room as the job remains unfinished.
Boston held their ground against the Mavericks' offense and hampered it to just 41.7% shooting, including 25.9% from beyond the arc. The team's defensive prowess came up big with 4:27 minutes remaining in the third quarter as Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla called a timeout when the 28-point lead dwindled to eight.
In response, the team put together consistent stops amid their 14-2 run. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were a catalyst in forcing Dallas' defense to collapse with their dribble penetration and opened up the offense for their teammates. It was a great showing of leadership but Brown warned his teammates about complacency in a released clip by the team's X account:
"Don't get cute fellas," Brown said. "Come on. That's just one game."
With one win down, Boston continues to inch closer to securing their ultimate goal of an NBA championship. Despite only needing three more wins to finish the task at hand, Jaylen Brown is well aware of what's needed to see the whole thing journey through.
Boston Celtics superstar had high praise for Jaylen Brown's performance in Game 1 of the NBA Finals
After the 107-89 victory, Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum praised Brown for his electric performance in front of their home crowd, as per CelticsBlog's Noa Dalzell.
"I think just being his teammate for seven years," Tatum said. "We've been in so many big games, we've been in so many big moments, and just always being there to answer the call in those moments, especially on both ends of the floor."
Brown led the scoring for his team with a 22-point outing, including 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks. On a night where Tatum took what the defense gave him from triple teams to quick blitzes coming off a screen, Brown handled his business as the other superstar on the team.
For the Boston Celtics to finally capture banner 18 in this year's finals, they will need both of their stars to show up in this series. At the same time, it also rests on each one of them to step up when the other star doesn't have it going on a particular night.
Amid all the debates regarding which one of them is the better player, Tatum and Brown refuse to drown in all of the outside noise as they continue to trust each other.