Jaylen Brown exposes doubters' takes on Instagram after clinching Finals MVP
Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics etched their names into NBA history after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to bring the Larry O'Brien trophy back to Boston after a 16-year wait.
Brown was honored with the Finals MVP award for his spectacular performance in the series. However, winning a ring and a Finals MVP trophy was seemingly not enough for the Celtics star, as he called out his doubters on his Instagram page.
He shared a photo on his Instagram story, claiming that 89% of the bets were on the Mavericks to win the series against the Celtics. He followed that photo with a picture of him hoisting the Finals MVP trophy up in the air, delivering a bold statement to all the doubters.
The following stories on his profile featured Brown celebrating the much-desired championship win. He posted photos of himself lighting a cigar, a common way of celebrating a championship win in the NBA. Jaylen Brown posted 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists in their 106-88 win against the Mavericks that closed out the series 4-1 and declared them as the new NBA champions.
Brown ended the series averaging 20.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 5.0 apg.
Jaylen Brown credits Jayson Tatum for 'selflessness' in Celtics' championship run
The Celtics fought hard to bring their 18th championship back to TD Garden, but another battle that went under the radar for most people was the battle for the MVP honor between Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Both Celtics stars are arguably among the best players in the league but Brown ended up winning the honor this year.
However, the Finals MVP realized and credited the sacrifices his teammate had made:
"I can't speak enough about 'JT' [Jayson Tatum] and his sacrifice and his selflessness all season long. We won as a team, we played as a team, we trusted the game plan. And 'JT' was the head of that snake. For us to be where we are, 'JT' had to be who he was," Brown said.
The "selflessness" Jaylen Brown talked about was clearly visible in Monday's game. Tatum dished out 11 assists to his teammates and he has been doing it this entire series. Tatum had the highest number of assists in Game 1 and Game 2 of the series, as well as in the closeout Game 5 contest.
However, he let his individual numbers take a hit to lead his team onto the path of victory. Tatum did not forget to end the series with a display of his own skills though, topping the scoring charts in Game 5 with 31 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.