BOSTON — There was a time not so long ago when Jaylen Brown’s future in Boston was in doubt.
After all those years of questions about whether he and Jayson Tatum would ever win an NBA title together, or if the stewards of the storied franchise would be better off breaking the Boston Celtics stars up, Brown signed a five-year, $304 million supermax extension last summer that made him the highest paid player in the NBA. It all paid off Monday night.
After Boston finished the finals job in Game 5, downing Dallas 106-88 in front of a TD Garden crowd that saw the Celtics crowned for a league-leading 18th time, Brown was named The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. The 27-year-old who was taken at No. 3 out of Cal in 2017, and who fell in the finals alongside Tatum two years before against Golden State after blowing a 2-1 series lead, helped Boston reach this goal that had eluded them since their much-debated partnership began in 2017.
Jaylen Brown wins the Bill Russell Trophy as the 2024 #NBAFinals MVP! ☘️ pic.twitter.com/ePINrAOdx4
— NBA (@NBA) June 18, 2024
He had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists in Game 5 when Boston led 67-46 at halftime and cruised until the end. Brown, who won MVP honors in the Eastern Conference finals as well after Boston’s sweep of Indiana, shot 44 percent from the field overall while averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, five assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks in the series.
“It was a full team effort,” Brown said. “I share this with my brothers, and my partner in crime, Jayson Tatum, he was with me the whole way.”
The irony of Brown winning both MVP honors is that it will surely spark some discussion about who’s better — yet again — when it comes to the Celtics’ dynamic duo. Tatum made a late push for the honor, with the three-time All-NBA selection and five-time All-Star finishing with 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and two steals.
He had 11 points in the fourth quarter when the crowd started to celebrate early in the rout and Tatum just kept piling on. For the series, Tatum averaged 22.2 points (on just 30.6 percent shooting overall), 7.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists and one steal.
“It could have gone to anybody,” Brown said. “It could have gone to Jayson, who I can’t talk enough about — his selflessness. I can’t talk enough about his attitude, and just how he approached not just this series, or the finals, but just the playoffs. We did it together as a team.”
The difference in this Tatum-Brown discussion now, unlike all those years ago, is that the Celtics themselves will pay no mind to such silliness. Tatum is chief among them.
GO DEEPER
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s twisting march to glory: A timeline
“The main goal for us was to win a championship,” Tatum said. “I didn’t care who got Finals MVP. I know that I need him through this journey, and he needs me. It was great to see him have that moment and share that moment with him. I’m extremely happy for him. Well deserved. That was big time. He earned it.”
Brown’s defense on Dallas’ Luka Dončić was a major factor in this one-sided matchup, as the Mavericks star struggled to be his transcendent self as often when faced with Brown’s physicality, length and smarts.
Dončić led all scorers in the series with 29.2 points per game, but he shot just 24.4 percent from three-point range (on nine attempts per) to go with 8.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists. His playmaking, in particular, was nowhere near his elite regular season standards (he was second in the NBA with 9.8 assists per game).
Considering what had transpired on Jan. 22, when the Celtics beat the Mavericks in Dallas and Brown sparked headlines with his postgame analysis that many believed was aimed at Dončić, this made for a fitting end.
“I think we kind of glorify guys who can play one side of the ball but we don’t really pay respect to people who guard and play defense and get deflections and steals and change the game in that area,” Brown told reporters after that game. “We only glorify the people who can score because that’s what the NBA has marketed. But basketball is both sides, and the purity of it is that as I’m challenging myself to get better. I’m challenging myself to be the best that I can on both sides of the ball.
“And moments like this kind of prepare you for, I think, the long run. Being able to pick up guys full court, being able to get in guys’ jerseys for long durations of time kind of builds endurance for the playoffs and stuff like that.”
He might as well have said it while staring directly into a crystal ball.
GO DEEPER
Jaylen Brown’s MVP-like performance fueled by growth from past failures: ‘This team has trusted me’
Yet as if being deemed the best player in the NBA Finals wasn’t fulfilling enough, the fact that the award itself is named in Russell’s honor added a more meaningful layer for Brown. As he had shared before the Celtics season opener in October 2022, during his speech honoring the legendary Celtic who had passed away three months before, Russell was “a mentor (and) a father” to Brown.
“To be honest, I can’t even put it into words,” Brown said after Game 5. “Just Bill Russell, and what he’s meant to me, and my Boston journey. His spirit, everything that he stood for. For this to be the Bill Russell MVP award, it just — I’ve got nothing, man. I don’t know what to say. But it’s unreal.”
Required reading
(Photo: Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)
