NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 13, 2024

Jaylen Brown

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. You've talked a few times about how the Miami series stuck with you. How did that change you, and now sitting where you are, in what ways did you need that?

JAYLEN BROWN: I mean, last year, just falling short on your home floor, it definitely hurt. It was embarrassing, in my opinion.

I felt like the team was relying on me. JT got hurt in Game 7 and I dropped the ball. To me, it was embarrassing. It drove me all summer, drove me crazy.

Q. What's been your experience about the effectiveness of complaining about calls or sharing your take in the moment with the officials? Is it the kind of thing where you don't want to complain too much because you might lose credibility? Is it a matter of planting a seed so at some point later in the game they factor that? Has your view of this sort of changed over the course of your career?

JAYLEN BROWN: I've never been a complainer to the refs. I don't think I've ever had a history -- I don't even know most of the refs by name.

I do think having a relationship and talking to them to know what you're kind of seeing can have a benefit. But at this point, I think it's a distraction. You go out there and you play the game, and you take it out of the referees' hands.

Q. 20 months ago, most people probably didn't know much about Joe Mazzulla, and all you guys have done under him is win 75 percent of your games since he took over. How much confidence did you have from day one that he was the guy to lead you guys? And secondly, how much do you appreciate his story as you guys are on the brink of one win away from doing this thing? How much do you appreciate that he has a pretty unusual path to the spot he's in right now?

JAYLEN BROWN: Yeah, Joe has been great. Just being in this position last year, just being in the interim role was tough. Even though we weren't making any excuses, but him inheriting that position, it was a little bit more of uncertainty about what we were doing going forward. It wasn't necessarily his staff.

Now I feel like he's gotten his feet under him a little bit more, even the start of this year. He's been excellent. He's been organized. He seems like he's been a lot more comfortable, and it's showed in our team. Joe's mentality is fantastic. Even today, one of my favorite quotes he said today, he was like, there's no such thing as a foul (in a war). Either you survive or you don't. Just that resonates with me because I like stuff like that.

Q. When you talked about the way last year went in the Conference Finals, you talked about stuff you worked on this summer. What did you focus on this summer, and especially as these Playoffs have gone on as you've excelled the way you have, how has that translated to the success you've had over the past several weeks?

JAYLEN BROWN: It's really just all mentality, mentally just your will, your focus, your perseverance, your ability to overcome self. I think that's what I worked on the most.

In moments of embarrassment, in moments of coming up short, falling short is where the most growth takes place. Last year to end the season the way we did, I really attacked the summer.

Q. Jaylen, I know it was a while ago now, but what do you remember about that first summer you and Jayson played together? He got drafted; you were going into your second year. Talk about the bond you forged at the beginning and what it's grown into now?

JAYLEN BROWN: I remember Danny calling me. I think I was in Málaga, Spain, or Cordoba, one of the two, and Danny called me, and it was like 4:00 a.m. Don't ask me why I was up. But Danny calls me, and he asked me, how do you feel about Jayson Tatum?

I remember I played with him at camps, Top 100 camp. He was my roommate at the KD Elite Camp. We played on the same team in so many different -- the Under Armour All-American game, we were roommates again.

So it was like, I had a lot of experience with him. I played with him on the same team and there was a lot of respect.

I said, I think it's a great choice.

Fast forward from there, we've been winning ever since.

Q. You guys were drafted both so young. You get success so early, but you're also pretty different guys. You obviously had a bond, but last night when you were up here, you called him your brother. How has that relationship grown over the years, even though you're pretty different people?

JAYLEN BROWN: For sure. You spend so much time and you go through so many things, the ups, the downs, the highs and the lows, and it creates that. Those memories are memories that we're going to forever have together. So those are things that you're always going to carry with you.

To be able to be in this moment, to potentially seal our first championship, I think that's awesome.

Q. You've talked about the brotherhood on this team and how much it means to you, but when you think about the younger JB when he first picked up a basketball, has your love and appreciation for the game changed or evolved over the years?

JAYLEN BROWN: Damn, that's a good question. My love for the game has definitely changed and evolved. There's been ups and downs, for sure. But one thing that I've always loved is the ability to have a platform and to be able to be a role model for others.

There's younger kids watching, maybe watching this interview right now, that maybe aspire to get to the Finals or the NBA or to just be the best versions of themselves. It's going to be a journey. Just know when those moments of adversity come, just never let nothing break your spirit, because I didn't, and I won't.