"People try to drive a wedge between us" - Jayson Tatum retorts to Jason Kidd calling Jaylen Brown as Celtics' top player
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have long been co-captains on the ship that is the Boston Celtics. With the two being within a year of one another, they have grown, struggled and won together, as they both evolved as basketball players. The way Jayson Tatum sees things, people have repeatedly attempted to pit the two Celtics stars against one another.
Most recently, it was Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who indicated while speaking to media members on Saturday that Brown is the team's best player. The comments came amid a postseason where Tatum has struggled to perform the way he did during the regular season.
At the same time, Brown has taken his game to the next level, putting on a number of jaw-dropping performances while helping lead the team to the finals. After Kidd dubbed Brown as the Celtics' best player, Jayson Tatum reacted to the comments during his own post-practice scrum on Saturday.
As he explained, he and Brown are no stranger to having others attempt to drive a wedge between them, and the latest comments from Kidd were no different.
"No reaction. This is a team sport, right. We understand that we wouldn't be here if we didn't have JB on our team. And we could say that for a lot of guys, right. We've all played a part and getting to where we're at. And we understand that people try to drive a wedge in between us and I guess it's a smart thing to do or try to do.
"But we've been in this position for many years of guys trying to divide us and say that one of us should be traded or one's better than the other. So it's not our first time at the rodeo."
Looking at the recent stats of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals
This year, the Boston Celtics proved themselves as one of the best teams in the league. Weeks before some teams clinched their postseason berths, the Celtics had already punched their ticket to the playoffs with the best record in the NBA.
The impressive play came on the back of Jayson Tatum, who earned All-NBA First-Team honors for his performance during the regular season. Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown, despite impressing in his own right, and continuing to impact winning at the highest level, was excluded from the All-NBA teams.
Despite that, in the postseason, it has been Brown's consistent play that has been the difference-maker for the Celtics. Whereas Jayson Tatum's numbers have taken a dip since the start of the postseason, Brown has been outperforming his regular-season averages.
For example, during the regular season, Brown averaged 23.0 points per game, his fewest since the 2019-20 season, in the postseason he's averaging a career-high 24.8 ppg.
At the same time, he's averaging a career-high 54.3% from the field, up from 49.9% during the regular season. On the flip side, Jayson Tatum is averaging 25.3 ppg in the postseason on 43.8% from the field.
During the regular season, Tatum averaged 26.9 ppg on 47.1% from the field, and 37.6% from downtown. This postseason, however, he has struggled to hit the mark from downtown, shooting just 29.9%.
Despite that, the Celtics are up 1-0 on the Mavericks in the NBA Finals.