In a chat with the media ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd sparked some debate by calling Jaylen Brown the best player on the Celtics. Kidd specifically noted Jaylen’s status as a two-way player as one of the things that makes him so hard to deal with.
“Well, Jaylen [Brown] is their best player, so just looking at what he does defensively. Picked up Luka full-court, he got to the free-throw line,” said Kidd. “That’s what your best player does. Just understand that he plays both sides, defense and offense at a high rate and he’s been doing that the whole playoffs. When you talk about the Eastern Conference MVP, just continue to pick up where you left off.”
"Well, Jaylen [Brown] is their best player.. He plays both both sides at a high rate.”
-HC Jason Kidd on what makes going up against Jaylen Brown so challenging pic.twitter.com/nEySEph3bf
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 8, 2024
To Kidd’s credit, Jaylen has been essential to the Celtics’ success, and his play throughout these playoffs was so impressive that he was named this year’s Eastern Conference MVP. Brown, 27, finished with a higher score in Game 1, with 22 points as opposed to Tatum’s 16. Throughout the past few weeks, the case can be made that Jaylen, a 3x All-Star, has been the Celtics’ best player even though he’s been considered Tatum’s sidekick for much of their tenure together.
Up to now, nobody has drawn attention to the power shift for the Celtics but I think Kidd may be trying to use the situation to play some mind games. Coming from a guy who once purposely spilled his drink on the court so he could force a stop in play, it’s not ridiculous to think that Kidd would try to sow some division in the Celtics locker room by playing on Tatum’s ego.
Whether you agree or not, Kidd’s statement is the ultimate test for the Celtics and if Tatum or Brown decides to play hero ball in the series, it will come back to haunt them. Fortunately, they aren’t letting Kidd’s words impact their approach.
Tatum And Brown Respond To Jason Kidd
As Kidd’s take went viral on social media, it didn’t take long for reporters to get a response from the Celtics stars themselves. When asked for his comments, former No. 3 overall pick Jaylen Brown said he had “no reaction” at all to Kidd’s recent statement.
“I have no reaction,” said Brown via Justin Turpin. “It’s a team game, we trying to focus on that… everybody has their own opinions.”
Jaylen Brown has “no reaction” to coach Jason Kidd’s comments.
“It’s a team game, we trying to focus on that… everybody has their own opinions.” 👀
[via. @JustinmTurpin] https://t.co/jPu7sesVOY pic.twitter.com/QSNIff9kif
— BASKETBALL ON 𝕏 (@BASKETBALLonX) June 8, 2024
Brown seemed less than enthusiastic about answering the question and didn’t entertain any thought about who the team’s best player was. He’s been through these conversations before and he’s an expert at not falling for the trap.
His teammate and co-star, Jayson Tatum (a 4x NBA All-Star), had a similar response and outright accused Kidd of trying to drive a wedge between him and the star out of the University of California.
“No reaction,” said Tatum. “This is a team sport and we understand that. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have JB [Jaylen Brown] on our team and you could say that for a lot of guys. We’ve all played our part. We understand that guys try to drive a wedge between us and I guess it’s a smart thing to try to do. But we’ve been in this position for many years of guys trying to divide us and say one of us should be traded. This is not our first time at the rodeo.”
"No reaction. This is a team sport. …This is not our first time at the rodeo.
JT's response to Jason Kidd's comments 👀 pic.twitter.com/DxCkarjrgE
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 8, 2024
You have to commend Brown and Tatum for how they’ve handled this drama. Instead of feeding into the narratives or trying got prove something, they simply embraced the concept of teamwork and acknowledged the collective efforts of the group.
No matter who the Celtics’ best player is, they are deep enough and talented enough to beat any team in the league and we’ve seen that play out in this postseason especially, where the Celtics went 12-2 against the Heat, Cavaliers, Pacers through the East. After the end of Game 1, where the Celtics smoked the Mavericks, it makes sense that now they would try to sabotage their only remaining competition from the inside.
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