NBA Finals 2024: Is Jaylen Brown the Celtics’ best player? That’s not what Boston cares about

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd just said what many have been wondering about these playoffs.

“Well, Jaylen is their best player,” he said. As in Jaylen Brown, not Boston Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum.

“Looking at what he does defensively, he picked up Luka [Dončić] full court, got to the free throw line, did everything, and that’s what your best player does,” the Hall of Fame point guard added. “Understanding that he plays both sides, defensively and offensively, at a high pace plays, and he’s been doing that all throughout the playoffs, when you’re talking about the Eastern Conference MVP, and it looks like he’s picking up right where he left off.”

You could argue that Brown has been Boston’s best player in these play-offs. He won the Eastern Conference finals MVP honors and deserved it. He was the heartbeat of his team, playing with power when the game called for it — however rarely, in Boston’s case this postseason.

It was his game-tying 3-pointer that sent Game 1 to overtime against the Indiana Pacers and his assist to Derrick White that sealed the sweep and his overall effectiveness that controlled Game 1 against Dallas.

Jaylen Brown is amazing. This is where that part of the conversation ends.

The rest may be some playmaking skills from Kidd, whose 30 years in the NBA would tell him this will be seen as a shot at Tatum, a deserving three-time All-NBA First Team forward. Tatum, the 2022 Eastern Conference finals MVP, is also great, and that should be a problem in the NBA.

How can two great players be great together? One has to be better than the other. Right? We have to take them apart. Destroy their ego. Because two superstars cannot exist on the same team at the same time. This is ridiculous! That’s what people who didn’t give Brown an All-NBA vote will say.

I don’t think these are general rules for the real world. I think the brilliant thing about these Boston Celtics is that two players, 27 and 26 years old, are at the top of this game when they need to be.

Tatum is collapsed like a shooter in these play-offs. He is shooting 29.9% from three-point range, well below his regular season and career averages. He scored 16 points on 16 shots in the Game 1 win over the Mavs.

And that’s where this part of the conversation ends.

Because to criticize Tatum further would be to put down one player to praise another.

We can say that Tatum was good in Game 1 and has been great overall in these playoffs. It is his play as the primary focus of the opposing defense that unlocked the highest-rated offense in history. It’s his ability at 6-foot-4 to defend opposing centers that allows Boston’s bigs to fill a role as roaming rim protectors.

Brown is great. Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford — all great players. If you ask me, Tatum is Boston’s best player. And if you ask me, I could say Brown has been the best player in these playoffs, but part of that is because opposing defenses are defending Tatum like he’s Boston’s best player.

Here’s how Kidd defended Tatum in Game 1, as Boston’s best player. He repeatedly crowded into Tatum’s space and forced him to spin the ball into rotation, where the Celtics made Dallas’ defense dizzy. His five assists tied Holiday and White for another 13 points. Are 14 potential assists were a game high. Tatum found open shooters and there are opportunities to improve his production.

I don’t really feel like continuing this conversation.

So did Mavericks star Kyrie Irving, who answered a separate question about how public debates about “Who is the best player on the team?” entering a locker room, oblivious to Kidd’s comments about Brown.

“A lot of people don’t know what they’re talking about,” Irving told reporters.

“I do my best to casually shift that conversation to the side of 1A, 1B or ‘Whose team is this?’ — this, ThatIrving added. “I’m just here to play basketball. It’s a dream come true to be at this level. … As a teammate, you just want to push aside those other things that don’t really matter or make you better as a team. So we’ll leave it up to everyone to debate whose team it is and who has the most responsibility. It is all our job to be prepared. S****y talk, but it has to happen in sports.”

Sounds like there’s some drama in the Dallas locker room, if you ask me. (You didn’t. I’m just kidding, of course.) The Celtics also saw through the story that Kidd may have spun before Game 2.

“No response,” Tatum said in response to Kidd’s comments. “This is a team sport. We understand that. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have JB on our team, and we can say that for a lot of guys. We’ve all played a role in getting to where we want to get.” We are here, and we understand that people are trying to drive a wedge between us. I think it’s smart to try that. We’ve been in this position for years of guys trying to divide us and saying one of us should be traded or one is better than the other. So it’s not our first rodeo.”

“I have no response,” Brown added. “It’s a team game. We try to focus on that, and you know, everyone has their own opinion.”

Boston’s Al Horford was more to the point:

Horford would know. He played opposite Kidd for seven seasons. He doesn’t want to be part of the conversation.