Jaylen Brown’s superpower? Taking things personally

ByNBAUSA



BOSTON — In theory, it seems extremely hard to doubt Boston Celtics star Jailen Brownconsidering what he accomplished during his 10-year NBA career. Now the five-time All-Star is an NBA champion, Finals MVP and has a great shot at being selected on the All-NBA First Team (and outside shooting for league MVP).

So how does Brown stay motivated? The 29-year-old pays attention to what is said about him and uses it as fuel, no matter how big or small.

“I take everything personally, fool,” Brown said after Monday night’s 102-94 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. “I’m always looking for something.”

This is not a unique approach in the world of basketball. NBA legend Michael Jordan dug deep to find anything he could take as an insult to his game. In fact, he even made up some disses purely to create motivation.

Brown never had to dig as deep as Air Jordan to find doubters. They are already on the surface, in a prominent place for him to see on social networksespecially ahead of the 2025-26 regular season.

With Celtics star Jayson Tatum has been ruled out indefinitely with a ruptured Achillessome wondered what the Green Team would look like with Brown at the helm. That curiosity turned into serious doubt as the Celtics parted ways with several key players in the offseason, including the veteran point guard Jrue Holiday.

Unlike many doubters, who have suggested that it is The Celtics should be fighting for a lottery pick, not trying to winthe Blazers guard believed in Brown and company. How incredibly bad the Browns are against losing was reason enough for Holiday to be confident his old team would shatter preseason expectations.

“I thought they were going to be good,” Holiday said in the visiting locker room Monday. “And then obviously, knowing Jaylen, I feel like he takes a lot of it personally. So he doesn’t take a lot, especially when it comes to being bad.”

After Holiday’s pregame praise, Brown went on to record 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals en route to the win. Celtics guard Payton Pritchard he also added a career-high 23 points (on 50% shooting) and never coughed up the ball in a game that had a combined 35 turnovers.

“I think people counted them out as a team,” Holiday said of the Celtics. “Not just Jaylen. I know Peyton, Joe (Macula), the whole coaching staff, they feel that when people say they can’t do something, they want to prove them wrong.”

Pritchard, who has always shared a similar underdog mentality with Brown, unsurprisingly confirmed Holiday’s comments in the locker room.

“I feel like it definitely motivated a lot of us,” he said when asked about the low preseason expectations placed on the C’s. “Hearing people saying it’s going to be a down year because we’ve traded a lot of players and JT being out … was definitely motivation.”

How Jaylen Brown’s growth helped the Celtics prove their doubters wrong

According to BetMGM’s pre-season predictionsThe Celtics should finish with about 41 wins at the end of the 2025-26 season. But after beating the Blazers, the Celtics are 29-17 overall and need just 13 wins in their next 36 games to surpass that mark.

Perhaps Vegas’ biggest projection mistake was focusing too much on what the Celtics lost during the offseason instead of what they gained. And while the C’s didn’t seem to gain much mid-summer wage dumpingthey created a new, primary role for Brown, which ended up being their greatest asset.

As Boston’s leading scorer, Brown is averaging nearly 30 points per game – a huge three-point increase from his previous best – while shooting over 48% from the floor. He is also averaging a career-high 4.9 assists per outing and is enjoying his highest usage rate ever.

“I feel like I’ve made sacrifices over the years to make us a championship-caliber team,” Brown said candidly. “I think we need to see exactly what I was capable of and what I sacrificed. I think it might not have been so obvious before. I think I was at the forefront of things, and we’re the second seed in the East, compared to last year where we finished as the No. 2 seed in the East, there were almost no four or five players out.”

Although the Celtics had good results leading up to the All-Star break, they weren’t always this successful. They started the season with three straight losses, marking their worst start in ten years.

When those losses piled up, the doubters claimed an early victory. Brown remembered that after Boston managed to turn things around.

“We started the season 0-3, we had all kinds of people posting all kinds of shit,” Brown said in December during one of his Twitch live streams. “Tell them to post now…Tell them to keep that same energy going.”

Clearly, Brown sees outside noise. He doesn’t have to invent like Jordan. It’s there.

Whether it’s not being named Eastern Conference Player of the Month or his ability to lead a contender on his own being questioned, Brown turns the doubt he faces into inspiration. But the star guard’s ultimate superpower may be his self-belief, which has remained steadfast through every trial and tribulation he has encountered in his career.

“I always believed in myself and believed that I was one of the best players in this league, and I had an opportunity to show that,” Brown said.





2026-01-27 13:11:00

Similar Posts