Joe Mazzulla Praises Jaylen Brown's Ability To Take Mentality 'To A Dark Place'

Mazzulla showed a lot of love for the Boston Celtics star's ability to lock in mentally, and said it has an impact on everyone in the building

Jan 5, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla talks to guard Jaylen Brown (7) on a break in play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the third quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Comedian Neal Brennan has a really funny bit about athletes and mental health. 

“ESPN’s always carrying on about how athletes need to have good mental health,” the bit begins. “And I want everyone to have great mental health. But not athletes. Guys, we need our athletes to be total psychos. You know what I call an athlete with good mental health? An assistant coach.” 

Just like most comedy, it’s funny because it’s based in truth. He references Michael Jordan’s penchant for taking things personally in The Last Dance. 

“We learned that Michael Jordan’s hobby was basketball, but his passion was revenge,” Brennan says in the bit. 

And he’s right on the money. The ability for athletes, or anyone who reaches the absolute pinnacle of their profession, to train their brains to push their bodies beyond normal limits is what separates the elite from the rest of the pack. 

Do you think Yo Yo Ma became the ONE cellist everyone knows just because he was a child prodigy? 

Here’s a fun fact about NBA players: Almost all of them were all child prodigies. But only a select few are wired in such a way that they can twist reality into fuel to push themselves past the competition. 

“The guy who does that is [Jaylen Brown],” Joe Mazzulla said on his recent appearance on the Netflix podcast Pardon My Take. He was describing how the Boston Celtics star will shift gears into playoff mode. “JB is going to just take it to another level, mentally and psychologically, where he comes into the building and he changes the entire building with his mindset. And everybody kind of feeds off of that.” 

Brown is constantly trying to challenge himself. From incredible swimming workouts to using dancing as a training tool, he’ll put himself in whatever situation he needs to in order to maximize himself. For Brown, it’s a deep-seated belief in self-discipline and taking whatever steps are required to accomplish a goal. It’s something he explained on his Twitch stream. 

According to Mazzulla, who is, himself, a sports psycho, Brown will extract whatever he needs wherever he can find it. 

“He uses people to get what he needs to get,” Mazzulla said. “He'll come in and he'll be having a conversation with you, and meanwhile, he's just, like, either extracting information from you, or getting mad at you so that he could go out on the court and take it to another level. And I'm just sitting there and I'm like, loving every second of this.”

As coach, it may seem like his job to inspire his players, but when Brown gets into this mode, he’s fueling Mazzulla. 

“I like to feed off of him in those moments,” Mazzulla said. “He can take it to a dark place. In a good way.” 

Personally, I’m not sure I quite understand how taking things to a dark place can be done “in a good way,” but they're the guys with an NBA championship and I’m the guy writing about it. So I’m not sure I’m in a place to question it. 

Whatever they need to do to get the job done is what they need to do. Like a lot of elite athletes, Brown is a master of manipulating his own brain to get to where he needs to go. It’s a form of method acting, in a way, and the result is an award-winning performance on the court. 

“He's 100% a weapon, mentally, psychologically,” Mazzulla said. “I think a lot of what we've done up until this point was like his decision to turn himself into a weapon heading into the season. And I think we were able to all leverage that.”