Boston Celtics ahead Jayson Tatum (0) congratulates guard Jaylen Brown (7) after they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in Sport 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff collection, Monday, Might 13, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photograph/David Dermer)
BOSTON — For nearly everything of their time collectively in Boston, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been linked.
They had been drafted by the Celtics third total in back-to-back years.
They possess comparable talent units — two explosive and expert wing gamers with a capability to attain from almost each spot on the court docket.
They usually each have been central to the success of a Celtics workforce that has reached the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons. It helped Brown earn the NBA’s first $300 million contract final summer season. And, Tatum is predicted to get one this offseason.
The workforce has branded the All-Stars as “The Jays” in a advertising marketing campaign proven throughout video games that pitted them towards each other in mini-competitions.
READ: Celtics comply with ‘craziness’ of Mazzulla’s teaching model to NBA Finals
In simply 7 years of being teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have…
☘️ 5 Convention Finals appearances
☘️ 2 NBA Finals appearances
☘️ 8 mixed All-Star picks
☘️ 5 mixed All-NBA picksTheir story continues in Sport 1 of the #NBAFinals introduced by @YoutubeTV… pic.twitter.com/tUl6mGfXxM
— NBA (@NBA) June 4, 2024
It has created pure comparisons between them alongside the way in which, fostering an environment through which followers and sports activities pundits alike have tried to parse out which one in every of them is healthier, whose spot is most untouchable on the roster and which ones is extra pivotal to the Celtics’ success as they put together to guide the workforce to the franchise’s 18th NBA title.
It reached a brand new stage final week throughout a phase on ESPN’s “Get Up” through which panelists debated whether or not the 26-year-old Tatum expressed pleasure or disappointment whereas watching the 27-year-old Brown garner Japanese Convention finals MVP honors.
“I believe it’s unfair to each of them,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned of what he seen as an try to manufacture friction between the 2 stars.
However at the same time as Tatum and Brown have distinguished themselves as an important gamers on Boston’s roster and the keys to the Celtics’ destiny of their NBA Finals matchup with the Dallas Mavericks, Mazzulla has hope that individuals will begin viewing them otherwise.
“They’re, like, two fully completely different individuals. They’re two fully completely different gamers,” Mazzulla mentioned. “They’re nice teammates, they love one another and so they go about profitable and so they go about their course of differently. Why they need to all the time be lumped collectively I believe is unfair.”
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Tatum and Brown, together with Al Horford, are the one returning starters from the 2021-22 workforce that misplaced to the Golden State Warriors in six video games within the Finals after holding a 2-1 collection lead.
Whereas Horford has taken on largely a reserve function this season, backing up 7-footer Kristaps Porzingis, Tatum and Brown have taken their play up a notch.
Tatum’s scoring numbers have remained regular from the common season (26.9 per sport) into the playoffs (26.0), whereas his rebounding has elevated from 8.1 to 10.4 per sport within the postseason. Brown, too, has seen jumps in these classes, going from 23.0 factors and 5.5 rebounds per sport to 25.0 factors and 6.1 rebounds within the playoffs.
Tatum believes they’ve each used classes from the 2022 NBA Finals’ loss, in addition to final 12 months’s convention finals loss to Miami, to develop into gamers extra outfitted to perform their championship objective this time round.
“Clearly, we’ve been there earlier than, we got here up quick,” Tatum mentioned. “You don’t all the time get a second probability, so actually simply it as a second probability and making an attempt to simplify issues as a lot as we will.”
And being one another’s largest cheerleaders, too.
After Brown made a game-tying 3-pointer late in Sport 1 of the convention finals matchup with Indiana to ship the sport to additional time in an eventual Celtics’ victory, the very best reward got here from Tatum.
“Massive time gamers make massive time performs,” Tatum mentioned of Brown.
READ: Celtics can now start enthusiastic about NBA championship
For Brown, this season has been about specializing in the expectations he has for himself and never worrying about others’ notion of him.
Initially, when he was requested about not being included on both the All-NBA or All-Defensive groups, he shrugged it off, saying his consideration was targeted on getting again to the NBA Finals.
After he was named convention finals MVP, he acknowledged it did provide at the very least some motivation, notably on the defensive facet of the ball which he mentioned he put most of his work into this previous offseason.
“As time has passed by and I obtained so far, I finished caring,” Brown mentioned. “I don’t care who sees what, so long as my metropolis is aware of my worth, my workforce is aware of my worth, my household — that’s all I actually care about.”
Mazzulla believes the rationale the connection between Brown and Tatum is so typically talked about is rooted in outdoors disbelief that their dynamic doesn’t breed any rivalry between them.
“On the finish of the day, like, these two guys, their relationship is their relationship,” Mazzulla mentioned. “They love one another. They push one another each single day in apply. They impart with one another, however they go about it otherwise. And, I believe they each get it unfair being in contrast to one another. They’re completely different. And we see different duos across the league don’t need to undergo that. … It’s as a result of they’ve been so profitable their whole careers, they’ve been in a position to for therefore lengthy keep in success at a excessive stage.”
