Jaylen Brown reveals successful ‘boring’ strategy after win over Lakers

ByNBAUSA



BOSTON — Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown knows what goes into winning. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP has won at the highest level and has never missed the playoffs in his 10-year career. With all this experience, he understands that winning can include everything from clutch high-reel plays to hard-hitting plays that are more about consistency than flash.

Despite the media hype that usually surrounds the meeting between the Celtics and their rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, Friday night’s showdown between the two storied franchises was far from memorable. That doesn’t bother Brown, however, as the 126-105 win gave his team its fourth straight win and set up another block in the winning foundation the 2025-26 Celtics are trying to build.

“Just one more game,” Brown said after the wire-to-wire victory.

Part of the reason why the draw for this match was reduced was that absence of stars Luka Dončić and LeBron James, who were sidelined for personal reasons and a left foot injury. Celtics star Jayson Tatum was also ruled outas expected given the Achilles tear he suffered in May and former Celtics veteran Marcus Smart was unable to suit up for the purple and gold either due to a long-term back injury.

All these factors have lowered the expectations for this strike game. None of that changed Brown’s approach, however.

“It’s an honor to compete against those guys, but my job is to go out there and help my team win,” Brown said when asked about the Lakers’ plethora of scratches before the game.

As for Tatum’s absence, that didn’t change Brown’s focus either. Since the Celtics started the season 0-3 to theirs current four-game winning streakBrown kept his expectations consistent.

“I think the expectation level is always the same, in my brain,” he said. “You know, just go out and compete and maximize our potential and kind of go from there. Don’t focus on the bottom line.”

This unchanging mentality may have helped the four-time All-Star reach a new level of reliability during the 2025-26 campaign. He had 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists against the Lakers, the 12th time this season that Brown has scored at least 30 points. He had just nine games of 30 points or more all last season.

“Focus on what you control and what’s in front of you, which is winning every possession, being a tougher team, all that good stuff,” Brown said. “It sounds boring, but that’s the kind of thing that goes into making a really good team.”

From the outside looking in, perhaps the Celtics have a more “boring” team than in years past. They lost Tatum, are missing multiple starters from last season and are mostly relying on young, lesser-known players to step up.

That means the Celtics have had to focus on the rim more than ever to succeed, using an incredibly low turnover rate and impressive offensive rebounding numbers to overcome more talented opponents.

The Lakers lacked talent and heart on Friday night, so Brown and company took care of business. It’s not a flashy win that will circulate the Sports Center all day, but it will continue to steer the 14-9 C’s in the right direction.

“We’ve been getting better every day, and now it’s coming together a little bit,” Brown said. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”

The work of the Celtics continues on Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Raptors 15-9 at Scotiabank Arena.





2025-12-06 22:32:00

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