NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 12, 2022

Jaylen Brown

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. This is your first time in the Finals. How much it has become routine for you, being in Game 5, and how much are you still dealing with, "I'm at the Finals for the first time in my career"?

JAYLEN BROWN: That's a good question. I don't really have anything to compare it to. I just kind of live in the moment, take it one step at a time. Try to get myself composed so I can get my teammates composed and just come out and try to execute the game plan. That's it.

Q. I know you talk a lot about just playing basketball and going with the flow but when it comes to crunch time and you guys need to get a bucket, is there an onus that the coaching staff is putting on you to go get the ball? Feels like you have a lot of success early in games, attacking, being aggressive, but late in the games getting lost in the shuffle?

JAYLEN BROWN: Not necessarily. We at times get a little disorganized and at crunch time get a little sped up. At times I do need to take the onus and get us more organized and get us more space and a little bit more composed. That's a part of my growth as a basketball player and my maturity and things like that. Can't put everything on the coaching staff. We're on the floor. So at times, somebody has to get everybody square, get everybody level-headed and be a little bit more composed.

But we just got to be better as a group overall in those moments and just take our time a little bit and just be a little bit more poised.

Q. You obviously only play the Warriors twice a year in the regular season. What have you learned about Steph and the unique challenge he presents?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, Steph Curry is pretty good, if you guys haven't noticed. He can shoot the ball unbelievably. Even watching it, playing against it and even in the Finals, I feel like he's taking it up a notch a little bit. He had a hell of a performance in Game 4, and we have to respond to that. We've got to do even more of a better job. We've got to be even more focused on the details because obviously Steph Curry is a hell of a player.

Q. What can you do?

JAYLEN BROWN: Be more focused. Attention to detail. There's no room for error. No room for doubt. And we can be better in that regard.

Q. What's the word of the day going into Game 5?

JAYLEN BROWN: That's a great question. The word of the day? Focus.

I think focus is something that, for us, has differed from game to game. It's almost human nature when our backs are against the wall a little bit, we play with more focus and intensity and determination. And sometimes when we're not, we're a little too comfortable. I would like our focus to be intense, and I would like our focus to be at a high level coming into Game 5.

Q. Ime was suggesting that when you guys have bad offense, it hurts you the other way. How have they punished you for those moments when offensively you weren't right?

JAYLEN BROWN: They are just a good team and they take advantage of your mistakes. They look to take advantage of your mistakes. Anytime we make any type of mistake, you could tell urgency is just they are going to try to come capitalize on it. We have to do a better job in that.

But the Warriors, they have been here before. They are well-coached and they are experienced. We expect nothing less. We are a young team, new, that's trying to climb the mountain. We've got to do our best to be better in those regards because when you make mistakes, teams like Golden State, they are going to take advantage.

Q. Do you and Jayson talk about the enormity of the game coming up, not only for the Boston Celtics but your personal legacies, and not putting too much pressure on yourselves? How do you balance that?

JAYLEN BROWN: There's no pressure. It is what it is. We know why we're here. We know where we're at. We know it's the Finals. We know the severity of the game. There's no need to say things that are already understood. We know how important this game is and the energy that we need to come out with and how we need to set our team up and how we need to make plays and how we need to guard and defend. We know all the ins and outs. We've just got to come and do it and let everybody watch and witness.

Q. Getting through these Steph Curry explosions and you're still 2-2. You're not down 3-1 or eliminated. You're still 2-2. Do you take any positive out of that?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, you can take positive out of anything. Obviously, I think we can be in a better position than we're in, but we're not. It's 2-2. Still nothing to hang your head about. A lot of great basketball still in front of us. We take our mistakes and learn from them and you apply it as best you can going forward. I still think we are in a great spot.

I'm excited to see how we respond over the next couple of days. I mean, it's exciting. It's the biggest stage in the world. I'll take our group, our guys, versus anybody. So I'm looking forward to it.