DALLAS — At some point, these superstar performances from Jaylen Brown are no longer an exception.
He’s already established himself as a star, but the overriding feeling in the minds of many is about the churn on the biggest stage, the slumps and lack of poise when it mattered most.
But when announcements were needed, declarations were made: thunderous dunks as Dallas attempted a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, and pull-up jumpers to calm a desperate Mavericks rally late in the fourth quarter.
These moments make champions and Finals MVPs – and superstars. Brown’s ascent to this next level, this air-thin space, parallels the maturity of the Boston Celtics, who are now 48 minutes away from claiming championship No. 18.
Number 7 once again left its mark on these play-offs, on these NBA Finals. The finishing touches, the moments that can win or extend series, belong to Brown, with further evidence from this new guy in Boston’s 106-99 Game 3 win at American Airlines Center Wednesday night.
The Celtics have a 3-0 lead, and no team in NBA history has come back from such a deficit.
Both Brown and Jayson Tatum reached the 30-point mark, with Brown adding eight rebounds and eight assists, while Tatum scored 31 with six rebounds and five assists. For the series, Brown is averaging 24.3 points, 6 rebounds and 5.6 assists.
Both, unbeknownst to the other, had the exact same statement when referring to their confirmed equilibrium: “Experience is the best teacher.”
They’ve had enough collective experiences, enough failures and disappointments that they wouldn’t be the team to fold, even if it looked very much like they were going to return to their old form as the Mavericks went home 20-2. make the night a potentially dangerous night.
But they found their centre, even though their tallest player, Kristaps Porziņģis, was out with another injury. Brown had the game in hand, his team led by two. In the past, it felt like he was strolling down the road without a plan and then panicked when bodies crossed his path.
But as he went left he rallied – pumped once and then unleashed a calm jumper, while Luka Dončić, from the bench, tried to give the effort a bit of body English to get it going anywhere other than the bottom .
Dončić was not on the floor for one of the few times in his career as he didn’t show the poise with which Brown played and made a mistake in the fourth quarter, and Brown had been there before.
The jumper was true, taking the air out of the building and letting the Celtics exhale with a minute left and a four-point lead. With Dončić out, Kyrie Irving had all the weight on his slender shoulders, and as spectacular as he was with a game-high 35 points, there’s only so much he could do.
It’s more than Brown and Tatum on the Celtics’ side, but Brown has made a leap.
He signed the biggest contract in NBA history, but he heard about his left hand.
He came into this season wanting to be All-Defense, but couldn’t crack the top 10. He didn’t even make the crowded All-NBA team this season, the player with the most votes not being honored.
“So if you have that kind of mentality, you can handle any situation the game throws at you,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He puts himself in every situation he faces in a match. He uses six, seven, eight coaches a day, and every situation on both ends of the floor, that’s where he puts himself.
“And that’s how you have to grow, by being vulnerable and through the things that make you uncomfortable, and he does that.”
That will all change as he takes away the recognition and respect, game after game.
“I definitely think there’s been some growth, but I think this team has trusted me, especially in these playoffs and in those moments, to just be who I am,” Brown said. “I felt like I could just accomplish it by being patient and ready. Those opportunities presented themselves and I was able to take advantage of them.”
The Celtics look like the dominant team in this series, weathering rushes and runs from Dončić and Irving to stay close enough to survive, then practicing discernment when the game hits the high-leverage moments.
The Mavericks continued that electrifying run but never took the lead, a testament to the fact that the Celtics built a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter after absorbing the early punches to the gut. It is Brown who defends Dončić to the point of exhaustion and frustration – it is Dončić who has had the poor defense throughout this series, while Brown has the mental and physical stamina to stay with it and not be deterred by outside forces.
Brown is the one bringing the power — dunking PJ Washington and Josh Green when they couldn’t close the door on his third-quarter drive with seconds left, capping a 15-point quarter. It felt like he was saying, “Game over, series over, don’t show up on Friday night,” with his closing.
“I mean, how can I explain Jaylen? The guy just has a growth mindset,” Mazzulla said. “He just wants to get better. He longs to get better. He is not afraid to face his weaknesses on the field.”
His weaknesses, the Celtics’ weaknesses, were on full display in the Finals two years ago, when Golden State showed veteran experience to overturn a 2-1 deficit. Their weaknesses are showing up now, even during this dominant 15-2 run in the postseason, because of pure math.
The let-it-fly mentality means they launch more 3s (46) than 2s (36), and even if you match their efficiency, your production won’t. It means that you get the feeling that you are playing well as an opponent, but the deficit is growing and growing as the Celtics tighten the screws.
Sooner or later you can’t keep up, or they let you back in.
But they’ve grown closer and they’re changing the story of who they are, 48 minutes at a time.
“Before I came here, I thought they were good enough to win,” Jrue Holiday told Yahoo Sports. “They had the talent, they had the superstars, they have role players and they have always been an organization that has always had a chance.”
Holiday affectionately calls Brown “a dog,” and even if it were literal, he’s barking all over the floor this series about the smell of Mavericks.
“It was great to go against him and play against them and compete and be the ultimate competitor,” Holiday told Yahoo Sports. “Because I’m on this side, I like it more on this side. (He) takes control, takes over different games and situations and really just sees the build-up so far.
It builds to an undeniable crescendo, where it could all come together on Friday night, rather than coming to the inevitable, disappointing crash.
Because Brown won’t allow it.
