ALL-STAR GAME

February 18, 2024

Jaylen Brown

Eastern Conference

Press Conference

East 211, West 186

Q. How did you feel the energy from the festivities in Indianapolis?

JAYLEN BROWN: I think it was great. Overall the weekend, celebrating basketball and the legends around the game and stuff like that, celebrities. I think it was a good weekend overall.

Q. How did Indy compare as a host city?

JAYLEN BROWN: I've only been to a few. The only one I really can compare it to was Utah, because in Atlanta, the other one I went to, was COVID or whatever the case may be. So far, so good for me. I thought that was a great crowd, great energy. Turned out well.

Q. What shocked you about Indy? Like surprised you about fans or signage or the snow?

JAYLEN BROWN: Definitely the snow. I think nobody planned for that. But I live in Boston, so I'm used to it.

Q. What was it like playing in this kind of atmosphere with no defense, a lot of three-point shots, and it was just a high-scoring game from the opening tip?

JAYLEN BROWN: It was cool. It was fine. Before, I think we were attempting to put a little more effort into it, but I'm not sure how successful that was.

Hopefully as the years go on, it gets back to being what the fans want to see. But I think maybe it was a little bit more effort this time, I think. I don't know. You guys would be a better judge of that.

Q. Last year you said, this wasn't basketball. Were there discussions about playing harder or playing more defense? Or was the hope that it would just sort of happen organically?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, there were some discussions. There were definitely some. I'm not sure how successful that was, but there were definitely some discussions. I guess guys are trying to figure out how to do that at the same time as having fun, being safe, being injury free. I guess more solutions need to be had to figure that out.

Q. What's it like being back on the same side with Tatum after you faced off last year? What's this been like for you two this year?

JAYLEN BROWN: It was cool being on the same team as J.T. this time. It was pretty cool. We got the win, and we had fun. I think it's just another platform to continue to raise for yourself but also raise for the city of Boston, just represent. I think that's what we kind of look at it as. That's what we've become.

Q. How was the collaboration in the Dunk Contest between you two? Did you practice it at all? Did you set that up?

JAYLEN BROWN: No practice. We just kind of went in hoping we'd have a better result. Obviously it went better in my head and our heads for sure than it looked out there.

We still had fun. I put my name in the hat. It was a little bit uncomfortable to participate in that contest, out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn't change anything. I went out there, tried to compete. Tried to bring some attention to it. Didn't go the way I expected, but that's a part of it sometimes.

Q. A lot of stars they don't want to do it because they're like, what do I have to gain from it? Are you proud of yourself that you went out there and put out your best effort?

JAYLEN BROWN: I wouldn't say proud of myself, but I wouldn't change anything. I would do it again, if I felt like I made that decision. It was a little out of my comfort zone, but I did want to do something. I feel like I'm in my athletic prime. I felt like I wanted to go out and participate at some point in my career, and I did that.

Q. Larry Bird was on the bench. Did you get a chance to meet him? Kind of the Celtic legend of legends.

JAYLEN BROWN: I didn't get a chance to meet him. He came in and said some words to us as a group. He kind of like said hello to everybody. We didn't get a chance to really communicate or talk. But it was great. That was my first time ever seeing him up close and personal. I haven't seen him around Boston or anything. It was pretty cool to see him around.