Brown: ‘No reaction’ to Kidd’s claim Celtic are better

BOSTON — Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd tried to throw a stick of dynamite into the middle of the Boston Celtics locker room Saturday, declaring (twice) that Jaylen Brown is Boston’s best player. But when Brown and Jayson Tatum were asked separately shortly after, before Boston’s attempt to take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals on Sunday night, both made it clear they weren’t interested in being influenced by Kidd’s mind games.

“I have no reaction,” Brown said.

Tatum added: “It’s a team sport. We wouldn’t be here if JB wasn’t on our team, and we can say the same about a lot of guys, right? We all played our part in achieving success.” where we are and we understand that people are trying to drive a wedge between us, I think that’s a smart thing to do or try to do.

“We’ve been in this situation for years: guys are trying to divide us and say one of us should be traded or one is better than the other. So this isn’t the first time we’ve been to the rodeo.”

And not for Kidd. He has been a fixture in the NBA since he was drafted by the Mavericks 30 years ago, appearing in three Finals as a player (including winning the 2011 title with Dallas) and now for the first time as an NBA head coach. But when Kidd was asked a rather innocuous question at the end of the press conference about what makes defending a player like Brown such a challenge, Kidd took the opportunity to stir up drama after the Celtics crushed his Mavericks in Game 1 on Thursday.

“Well, Jaylen is their best player,” Kidd said Saturday with a sly smile. “Just watching what he does defensively. He followed Luka the entire playground. He got to the free throw line. He did everything and that’s what your best player does.”

“I just understand that he plays both sides, defense and offense, with a lot of speed. And he did this throughout the playoffs. I mean, when you talk about the MVP of the Eastern Conference, it seems like he picked up where he left off.” . let”.

The topic of who is better, Brown or Tatum, has been a driving force of discussion and debate on sports radio for years, as the two star forwards have carried Boston deep into the playoffs time and time again since they were picked third overall. overall standings in 2016. 2017 respectively.

This year marks the sixth time in eight years that Boston has reached the Eastern Conference Finals and the second time in three years, the league’s championship round, and Tatum won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award two years ago. Brown is in contention for the award after Boston defeated the Indiana Pacers in four games last month, defeating Tatum by a narrow 5-4 margin.

But after all the ups and downs Boston has endured as a team (the Celtics have played more playoff games without winning a title in the last eight years than any other team in NBA history over an eight-year period), neither Brown nor Tatum showed no interest in even acknowledging Kidd’s attempt to cause discord between them or within the Celtics.

“I’m not sure,” Brown said when asked why Kidd went to such lengths to try to drive a wedge between him and Tatum. “But we were extremely focused on our roles and work. We all had to sacrifice. Jason had to do it at the highest level, right, and I respect that and take my hat off to that.”

“Right now, in this moment, we must do whatever it takes to win, and we cannot allow any outside interpretation to try to come between us.”

For his part, Tatum said accepting that things like this will come up over time is something he’s gotten used to in his NBA life, and he now understands that comes with the territory his platform provides and with Both he and the Celtics as a group were successful.

“I think, like I said, over time you learn to deal with things,” Tatum said. “The truth is, there was a point in my career where something really affected me or bothered me, you know, when people were talking about me on television. But you must understand that, on the one hand, I did not do this. Take it Personally, people have jobs and you have to respect that. They should go on television and give their analysis of what they see and see and it’s honest and we all benefit from it.

“Again, people wouldn’t talk about me if I wasn’t one of the best players. I’m not the only player they talked about and I won’t be the last. So I understand that side of the matter.” “

All of that overshadowed Boston’s dominance in Game 1, when the Celtics led by 29 points and again put the game away in the second half after Dallas managed to cut that lead to eight midway through the third quarter.

However, the Celtics’ goal now is to carry that result into Game 2.

“We just need to focus on the truth,” Celtics coach Joe Mazulla said. “At the end of the day, no one knows because they are not in the locker room. And I think as long as we focus on the truth, as long as we focus on the things that we talk about every day, as long as we focus on the relationships that we build with each other, that’s all we focus on.

“You can look at it any way you want. At the end of the day, what happens in our locker room, how we communicate with each other, how we build relationships with each other and how we treat each other on and off the court.” it’s the most important”.