Jaylen Brown: `I believe I'm the best two-way player in the world'

Jaylen Brown’s latest outburst — his second career 50-point performance — prompted the Boston Herald to suggest the one-time Cal star is “playing like an MVP candidate.”

Actually, kind words are not likely to provide Brown with motivation.

The 29-year-old four-time All-Star prefers to be underrated or overlooked. In fact, he thrives on it.

He apparently was still doing a slow burn over a perceived slight on Saturday night when he lit up the Los Angeles Clippers for 50 points on 18-for-26 shooting in the Celtics’ 146-115 victory.

When the NBA handed out its Player of the Month award for December, it was a different Jalen — Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson — who earned the recognition.

“I’m going to be honest. No disrespect, no diss to those guys, Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) or Brunson. Neither one of them had a better month than I had,” Brown told reporters. “People just tell me ‘maybe if you keep your mouth closed, maybe you’ll win some awards.’ That's exactly why I’m gonna keep talking.”

For the record, Brown averaged 31.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 10 games over the month, while shooting 53.8% from the field, 42.6% from 3-point range. In the only game he failed to score at least 30, he dished 10 assists.

Brunson’s numbers: 30.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 7.1 assists on 47.5% from the field, 40.5% from deep.

“I’m happy he’s disappointed,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said before the Clippers game. “He strives to be one of the best, so I fully support him there. I think he should have got it, and I hope he takes it out on our opponents for the next month.”

Brown’s big game didn’t come unannounced.

"I knew before the game," Brown said. "In warmups, I could just feel like every shot, the ball was coming off my hand super clean. My footwork felt great.

“I did salsa last night. Had some great salsa classes. So I felt good as soon as I walked into the arena.”

And his performance wasn’t one-dimensional. The night before, on a flight from Sacramento to Los Angeles, Brown texted Mazzulla and said he wasn’t the assignment of defending the Clippers’ red-hot star.

Kawhi Leonard had averaged 40.4 points over his previous five games, including 55 points in a victory over the Detroit Pistons.

"I seek those challenges," said Brown, who has lifted the Celtics to a 22-12 record and a virtual tie for second place in the Eastern Conference. "I feel like it brings the most out of me. Obviously Kawhi is one of the greats, so I wanted to start on him. And I just seek those matchups. I like when my back is against the wall. When people doubt, it fuels me. So even though it'd be nice to get some respect ... keep it up. I definitely use it as fuel.”

Leonard wound up scoring the modest total of 22 points on 6-for-17 shooting. Praising Brown, Mazzulla called it “one of the most complete games that I’ve seen him play.”

"I believe I'm the best two-way player in the world," Brown said, "so I just wanted to come out and show it.”

MVP of the 2024 NBA Finals, Brown has boosted his season scoring average to 30.1 points, fourth-best in the NBA and on pace for the highest single-season scoring average by a Cal alum.

He trails only Luka Doncic (33.6 points), Gilgeous-Alexander (32.1) and Tyrese Maxey (31.1).

Brown’s December included nine straight games of at least 30 points, tying the franchise record held by Larry Bird.

Over the past 16 games, he is averaging 32.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists. In 13 of those 16 games, Brown scored 30 or more points.

So Brown welcomes the slights, real or not.

“My mindset, I like when my back is against the wall,” he said. “I like when people doubt. It fuels me. Even though it would be nice to get some respect, you know, keep it up. I definitely use it as fuel.”

Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

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