During a historic playoff run, Boston has been pushed by the pain of pasts postseasons as much as it’s been drawn by the title dream ahead. Start with Jaylen Brown.
Jaylen Brown delivered the dagger in Game 3.
A right-elbow jumper with a minute left to push the Mavericks back to arm’s length in the tightest stretch of the NBA Finals. Brown rose above closing defense and the magnitude of the moment, capturing everything about his personal evolution with a single shot.
He’s tougher now. Stronger. Forged by the fires of playoff disappointment, unafraid and unrelenting.
So, too, are the Celtics.
During a historic playoff run, Boston has been motivated by the pain of past postseasons as much as the title dream ahead.
Start with Brown.
“Last year, just falling short on your home floor, it definitely hurt. It was embarrassing, in my opinion,” he said. “I felt like the team was relying on me. (Jayson Tatum) got hurt in Game 7 and I dropped the ball. To me, it was embarrassing. It drove me all summer, drove me crazy.”
Now, “crazy” is one of the few words fit for this Celtics’ campaign. A 64-win regular season. The most efficient offense in NBA history. The league’s second-ranked defense, a somehow overlooked foundation for one of the best statistical teams to ever take the floor, anywhere and in any era.
Yet it was that defense that powered them to a 3-0 Finals lead before Friday’s Game 4, when Dallas had yet to score 100 points in a single game all series. The same defense that the Miami Heat poked and prodded and finally broke in last year’s East Finals, with one Jimmy Butler drive after another Caleb Martin 3, on and on.
