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

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd just said what many have been wondering these playoffs.

“Well, Jaylen is their best player,” he said. As in Jaylen Brown, not his Boston Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum.

“If we look at what he does defensively, he caught Luka (Dončić) all over the court, he got to the free throw line, he did everything, and that’s what your best player does,” added the Hall of Fame point guard. “Getting it figured out. He plays both sides, defense and offense, at a high pace, and he’s been doing that throughout the playoffs, when you’re talking about the Eastern Conference MVP, and it seems like he’s picked up where he left off.”

You could argue that Brown has been Boston’s best player. in these playoffs. Eastern Conference won finals MVP honors and he deserved it. He has been the heartbeat of his team, playing hard whenever the game has called for it, although rarely, in the case of Boston this postseason.

Was his game-tying triple that sent Game 1 to overtime against the Indiana Pacers and his assistance to Derrick White that sealed the sweep and their overall effectiveness that controlled Game 1 against Dallas.

Jaylen Brown is amazing. That part of the conversation ends here.

The rest is maybe some cunning from Kidd, whose 30 years in the NBA would let you know this will be seen as an opportunity for Tatum, a deserving three-time All-NBA first-team forward. Tatum, the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals MVP, is also incredible, and that’s supposed to be a problem in the NBA.

How could two amazing players be amazing together? One has to be better than the other. Good? We must separate them. Destroy their egos. Because two superstars cannot coexist on the same team at the same time. This is absurd! That’s what the people who didn’t give Brown an All-NBA vote will say.

I don’t think those are general rules for the real world. I think the brilliant thing about these Boston Celtics is that two players, ages 27 and 26, are playing at the top of the game at the time they need to.

tatum is falling as a shooter in these playoffs. He is shooting 29.9% from 3-point range, well below his regular season and career averages. He scored 16 points on 16 shots in the Game 1 win over the Mavs.

And that’s where this part of the conversation ends.

Because to criticize Tatum more would be to tear down one player to praise another.

We can say that Tatum was good in Game 1 and has been excellent overall in these playoffs. It was his play as the primary focus of opposing defenses that unlocked the highest-rated offense in history. It’s the 6-foot-8 ability to guard opposing centers that allows Boston’s bigs to play the role of roving rim protectors.

Brown is great. Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford, all great players. If you ask me, Tatum is Boston’s best player. And if you ask me, I could say that Brown has been his best player in these playoffs, but that’s also partly because opposing defenses defend Tatum as if he were Boston’s best player.

This is how Kidd defended Tatum in Game 1, as Boston’s best player. He repeatedly filled Tatum’s space and forced him to rotate the ball, where the Celtics made the Dallas defense dizzy. His five assists matched Holiday and White and produced 13 additional points. his 14 potential The assists were the highest of the game. Tatum was finding open shooters and there are opportunities for his production to improve.

I really don’t want to take this conversation any further.

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

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

“I do my best to bring that conversation to the side of 1A, 1B or ‘Whose team is it?’ — this, that“Irving added. “I’m just here to play basketball. It is a dream come true to be at this level. … As a teammate, you just want to let go of those other things that don’t really matter or that make you better as a team. So we let everyone else argue whose team it is and who has the most responsibility. Our whole job is to be prepared. “Shitty conversation, but it has to happen in sports.”

There seems to be some drama in the Dallas locker room, if you ask me. (You didn’t. I’m just kidding, of course.) The Celtics also saw the narrative Kidd might have been weaving leading up to Game 2.

“There’s no reaction,” Tatum said in response to Kidd’s comments. “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 about a lot of guys. We’ve all played a role in getting to where we are.” We are in this, and we understand that people are trying to drive a wedge between us. I guess it’s a smart thing we tried to do. We’ve been in this position for many years of guys trying to divide us and say one of us should do it. be exchanged or one is better than the other. So it’s not our first rodeo.”

“I have no reaction,” Brown added. “It’s a team game. We’re trying to focus on that and, you know, everyone has their own opinions.”

Boston’s Al Horford was more direct to the point:

Horford would know. He played seven seasons alongside Kidd. He doesn’t want to be part of the conversation.