NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 29, 2023

Jaylen Brown

Boston Celtics

Game 7: Postgame

Miami Heat 103, Boston Celtics 84

Q. What happened out there tonight? Seemed like shots didn't go down early then the defense slipped and shots still didn't go down and then turnovers. Just what happened personally, what happened with the team?

JAYLEN BROWN: We failed. I failed. We let the whole city down.

Q. Can you kind of process this season for you in this moment and the season for the team?

JAYLEN BROWN: It's been a hell of a year. Those guys in that locker room are warriors, resilient. It's been an honor to share the locker room with a lot of those guys. Despite whatever circumstance that we've had this year, we've rose to the occasion. We got to this point and we came up short.

Q. Obviously there's a lot that could happen for you over the course of this summer. Have you been able to kind of think about your future here and what you're hoping for?

JAYLEN BROWN: I expected to win today and move on. That's what my focus was on and that's my focus has been on. We failed. I failed. It's hard to think about anything else right now, to be honest. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Q. What is going to be the focus for you individually and as a team going forward off this? What do you carry from this?

JAYLEN BROWN: More pain of coming up short. All in all, I think the year was a great year. Those guys in that locker room, through any circumstance, have stepped up, even from the start of the year, how things started off with our coaching staff, with all the different turmoil that we've experienced throughout the year, injuries, whatever. These guys have been a resilient group. So, it was just an honor to play with them and share the floor with our guys and our coaching staff. It's pain that we are here coming up short.

Q. You obviously had a lot of success since coming here individually and as a team in particular. But haven't been able to take that final step. You've gotten close a lot. What do you think is missing, whether it's personnel-wise, just with this group itself, what do you think is stopping you from taking that final step?

JAYLEN BROWN: I'm not sure. All I know that we had an opportunity and we came up short. We fought hard to get back into this series and had a game on our home floor and we came up short. That's all I can really gather from the situation right now.

Q. You guys talked when the series was kind of falling apart in the beginning about having kind of a crisis of the defensive identity. That kind of came back for these last few games and tonight it seemed to fall off. How crucial was defense this year to help you guys figure out how to even get into your offense and when you're not getting stops, as you saw tonight, how hard was it for you guys to figure out how to try to run an offense?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, defense has allowed us to get to this point. Offensively we didn't play our best and defensively we were decent tonight, not good enough, but offensively just seemed like we couldn't hit a shot, and it just put more pressure on our defense. We had a bunch of good looks and nothing went in. We all got to sit back and reflect from that.

Like I said before, I mean, we failed. It's hard to pull anything else from that, from this situation. But it's been a blessing to play the game of basketball to this point, one game from the Finals. It stings like incredibly and it's hard to even being up here and talking about it. All I can say is give credit to the group that we had this season. Give credit to our coaching staff that we had this season. We had a lot of ups and downs, we had a lot of things that was going on internally, et cetera. We fought. We fought our way back from down 3-0 and we got to this position and we came up short.

Q. How do you evaluate the job Joe did from taking over just a few days before training camp, kind of dealing with all the emotions that came with that situation, to then showing up for the first time as a head coach in the playoffs and dealing with kind of the ups and downs of this playoff run?

JAYLEN BROWN: I give Joe my respect. Tough situation to be in. And he took it and he took it head on and ran with it. We had two rookie head coaches in the last two years, and Joe picking up from Ime as an interim starting off and then progressing as being the head coach, just fully took that challenge on and led us to this point. That's a tough position for a guy to be in. It's a tough position for a team to be in. Coming off of a Finals run, but we didn't make any excuses and I'm not making any excuses now. We came up short. But I still give my respect to our coaching staff and that group that we had on the floor.

Q. With Jayson hurting his ankle on the first play of the game there, from your view point, how tough was it offensively to get going knowing that he wasn't at full strength there and do you feel like you maybe put too much onus on yourself at times with turnovers and stuff to try to kind of make up for what he clearly wasn't able to do from a physical standpoint?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, just a terrible game. When my team needed me most, like JT hurt his ankle, first play of the game, and you could see it like swelling up on him. He couldn't move out there. It was tough for him. My team turned to me to make plays and I came up short, I failed. It's tough. I give credit to Miami, but just a terrible job.

Q. Malcolm Brogdon thought that collectively the team played a little bit tight, Miami was looser. Did you personally feel tight?

JAYLEN BROWN: No, absolutely not. I sensed that once we started hitting shots, I sensed that we were a little bit tight and I was trying to create and make plays. And Miami, they just, the way they guard, the way their defense is, they try to take that stuff away. And I tried to get my team going and I tried to make plays and it didn't work out for me tonight.

Q. How do you capitalize, with you and Jayson here for however long, how do you capitalize on this championship window that you guys have? You guys are very close and something may be needed. What is needed and how do you capitalize on that window that's open?

JAYLEN BROWN: You take it on the chin. You learn from it. As hard as this one is right now to swallow, you get better. It's a tough one. Tough one. Tough one for me. Tough one for our team. Tough one for our organization. Extremely bad timing. You just, you learn. That's a part of the journey. This is not the end. We got a lot better to get, a lot of better basketball to play and you just got to look at it like that. But tough night.

Q. Obviously you mentioned about the future you guys have ahead, this summer you have some decisions to make in terms of an extension with Boston, if it gets offered. What is kind of your mindset about that this summer and what is your expectation for how that will play out?

JAYLEN BROWN: Say that again?

Q. In terms of the possibility of you getting an extension this summer, especially after making All-NBA, what is kind of your thought process going into the summer and how do you expect it to play out?

JAYLEN BROWN: You asked what's my thought process? I really don't, you know, I don't even really know how to answer that question right now, to be honest. My thought process is take it one day at a time, focus on getting better. Focus on what the future holds and see where we are from there. I guess I don't know really know how to answer that.

Q. How much pride do you take in the fact that the way you guys battled back and what lessons do you take from this run?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, like, tremendous effort from our group. Our group was amazing all year. Consistent. This was one of the most together groups that we've had. It sucks, right. Even in the moments where we went down 3-0, that group stayed together. And even in the midst of the game tonight where it was rough, this group was tremendously resilient.

Tough luck with JT going down. We tried to compensate and it just didn't work the way we thought it would. A lot of that is on me. So I just got to take it on the chin and it is what it is.