BOSTON — Jaylen Brown led the Celtics in scoring (34 points), rebounds (8), assists (7), and blocks (3) in Monday night’s 112-105 loss to the Detroit Pistons.
But, at the postgame podium, he made one thing clear: he wasn’t happy with his performance.
“I got to be better,” Brown said. “I wasn’t good enough for my team.”
It’s been a career year for Brown, who is averaging 29.3 points on 50% shooting, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. He’s eclipsed 30 points in 8 of his last 9 games; the only other game being a 19-point, 12-assist, 11-rebound triple-double in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And, he’s well on his way to a fifth All-Star appearance.
But Brown made a slew of mistakes in the fourth quarter of Monday’s loss; with four minutes left, he misfired on a pass that was picked off by Cade Cunningham. About 90 seconds later, he bit on a Tobias Harris pumpfake, sending the Pistons veteran to the line.
On the next possession, he missed both of his free throw attempts (and ultimately finished the game a season-worst 7-14 from the line).
Those are some of the plays Brown recalled when asked why he was so hard on himself at the podium.
“Especially in the fourth quarter, just some mindset plays, foul, staying down on the shot fake, a turnover in the fourth, and just too many missed free throws,” he said. “Just mentality-wise, mindset-wise, I needed to be more for my team — and I wasn’t tonight.“
To be fair to Brown, amid the mistakes were plenty of good moments, even during the final period that he lamented most. He scored 7 points and tallied 2 blocks in 9 fourth-quarter minutes, and sank a pull-up three from the top of the key midway through the period.
But the level of perfection that Brown is striving toward is exactly why the Celtics have overachieved this season, in the first place. Their top player is demanding excellence — and simply another gaudy statline was insufficient.
“I’ve got to do better to get my team over the hump,” Brown said. “In my mind, I didn’t have my best game tonight, so that’s on me.”
Derrick White, who tallied a season-high 31 points on 10-18 shooting against Detroit, disagreed with the notion that the loss was on Brown. But, he also acknowledged that the high standard he holds himself to has gotten him to where he is.
“I think that’s kind of what makes him special — 30-something [points] and still wants to do better for us, and so that’s what makes him special,” White said. “He’s probably his toughest critic, and we know that he’s going to bounce back and continue to do special things for us. And so obviously, this loss isn’t on him, it’s on all of us, and we got his back, but I think that’s just kind of the guy he is, and that’s why we love playing [with him].“
Joe Mazzulla also felt that Brown processed the game well.
“I think at the end of the day, you just have to make the right read, which I thought he did,” said the Celtics head coach. “He finished at the rim and kicked out for open shots. I think that’s just the nature of it — nothing else is more important than that, regardless of whether they’re going in or not, are we making the right read?”
But in a 7-point loss, everything mattered: “All that stuff adds up — turnover, free throws, open shots, all of that little stuff adds up,” Brown said. “So tonight wasn’t my best night at that. I’ll take accountability.”
“I think my team did enough. I gotta be better down the stretch. We gotta be better down the stretch. Definitely a game that got away from us, that got away from me. We’ll watch the film and be ready for the next one.”
