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

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd simply stated what many have been questioning in these playoffs.

“Well, Jaylen’s their best player,” he stated. 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,” added the Hall of Fame point guard. “Understanding 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, and it seems like he’s picked up where he left off.”

You may make the argument that Brown has been Boston’s best participant in these playoffs. He did win Eastern Conference finals MVP honors and deserved it. He has been the heartbeat of his crew, taking part in with a power at any time when the sport has demanded it — nevertheless not often, in Boston’s case this postseason.

It was his game-tying 3-pointer that despatched Game 1 to time beyond regulation in opposition to the Indiana Pacers and his help to Derrick White that sealed the sweep and his total effectiveness that managed Game 1 in opposition to Dallas.

Jaylen Brown is superior. This is the place that a part of the dialog ends.

The remainder of it’s maybe some gamesmanship from Kidd, whose 30 years in the NBA would have him know this might be seen as a shot at Tatum, a deserving three-time All-NBA First Team ahead. Tatum, the 2022 Eastern Conference finals MVP, is superior, too, and that’s presupposed to be an issue in the NBA.

How may two superior gamers be superior collectively? One needs to be higher than the different. Right? We should cut up them aside. Destroy their egos. For two superstars can not co-exist on the identical crew at the identical time. This is … preposterous! That is what individuals who did not give Brown an All-NBA vote will say.

I do not suppose these are normal guidelines to the actual world. I believe what is sensible about these Boston Celtics is that two gamers, 27 and 26 years outdated, are taking part in at the high of this sport at the second they should.

Tatum is slumping as a shooter in these playoffs. He is capturing 29.9% from 3-point distance, properly beneath his regular-season and profession averages. He scored 16 factors on 16 photographs in the Game 1 win over the Mavs.

And that’s the place this a part of the dialog ends.

For to criticize Tatum additional can be to tear one participant down with the intention to reward one other.

We can say Tatum was good in Game 1 and has been nice total in these playoffs. It is his playmaking as the main focus of opposing defenses that unlocked historical past’s highest-rated offense. It is his capacity at 6-foot-8 to defend opposing facilities that permits Boston’s bigs to serve roles as roaming rim protectors.

Brown is nice. Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford — all nice gamers. If you ask me, Tatum is Boston’s best participant. And when you ask me, I’d say Brown has been its best participant in these playoffs, however that can be partly as a result of opposing defenses defend Tatum as if he’s Boston’s best participant.

This is how Kidd defended Tatum in Game 1, as Boston’s best participant. He repeatedly crowded Tatum’s area and compelled him to spin the ball into rotation, the place the Celtics dizzied Dallas’ protection. His 5 assists equaled Holiday and White and produced an extra 13 factors. His 14 potential assists had been a sport excessive. Tatum was discovering open shooters, and there are alternatives for his manufacturing to enhance.

I do not actually need to take this dialog any additional.

Neither did Mavericks star Kyrie Irving, who addressed a separate query about how public debates over “Who is the best player on the team?” impression a locker room, unaware of Kidd’s feedback on Brown.

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

“I do my best to nonchalantly push that conversation to the side of 1A, 1B or ‘Whose team is it?’ — this, that,” added Irving. “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 those other things to the side that don’t really matter or get you better as a team. So we just leave it to everybody else to argue whose team it is and who has the most responsibility. It’s all our jobs to be prepared. S****y conversation, but it has to happen in sports.”

Sounds like there’s some drama in the Dallas locker room, when you ask me. (You did not. I’m simply joking, after all.) The Celtics additionally noticed by way of the narrative Kidd might need been spinning forward of Game 2.

“No reaction,” Tatum stated in response to Kidd’s feedback. “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 have all played a part in getting to where we’re at, and we understand that people try to drive a wedge between us. I guess it’s a smart thing to try to do. We’ve been in this position for many years of guys trying to divide us and say one of us should be traded or one is better than the other. So it’s not our first rodeo.”

“I don’t have no reaction,” added Brown. “It’s a team game. We’re trying to focus on that, and, you know, everybody has their own opinions.”

Boston’s Al Horford was extra to the level:

Horford would know. He performed seven seasons reverse Kidd. He desires no a part of the dialog.