Jaylen Brown He is much more than one of the stars of the Celtics who have come within two victories of returning to the NBA Finals after winning the second game of the Eastern final against the Indiana Pacers (126-110).
The guard, who scored in the second game 40 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, became a reference for American society upon his arrival to the League. He studied at the university of Berkeleybecame the youngest vice president of the players unionled the protests in Atlanta against the murder of George Floyd, after driving for 15 hours, and negotiated his arrival in the NBA without the help of an agent. “He’s too smart for the NBA,” said a franchise executive before his arrival in the American League. Passionate about chess and history, vegan and regular practitioner of meditation and yoga, Jaylen Brown was the decisive element in the Pacers’ second defeat. In the first game in Boston he scored a triple to force overtime and in the second he scored the highest score of his playoff career.
The defeat for Indiana was also accompanied by the scare of its star Tyrese Haliburton, who retired from the game after suffering a muscle problem in his thigh. Similar discomfort already kept him out of ten games in January. To Brown’s 40 points was added foreign help from Jayson Tatum (23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists despite being one of seven in triples), Derrick White (23 points and four triples) and Jrue Holiday (15 points and 10 assists).
The Pacers had a good start to the game, taking a six-point lead in the first quarter before the Celtics responded with a devastating 20-0 run that allowed them to take a 42-27 lead and no longer lose control of the game.
The Celtics coach, Joe Mazzulla, believes that Brown was motivated by the fact that he was left out of the NBA’s ideal teams this season. Brown, who signed a five-year, nearly $305 million contract last year, was not included in the three All-NBA teams decided by votes from a group of 99 media outlets. “Jaylen is one of my favorite players. I think he is interested in (the All-NBA) in the sense that it is something that motivates him. Then winning is the most important thing,” Mazzulla said at the press conference after the TD game. Garden. “He has the ability to improve, to work hard, he is motivated and is not afraid to work on the areas that he can perfect,” he added.
The Slovenian Luka Doncic, the Serbian Nikola Jokic, the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Canadian Shai Gilgeous Alexander and the American Jayson Tatum made up the first All-NBA team of the year.
The second team is made up of Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers), Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers). The third, by Devin Booker (Suns), Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), LeBron James (Lakers) and Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings).
The series will now move to Indianapolis for games three and four, set, respectively, this Saturday and Monday. The winner of this series will face the winner of the tie between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA Finals, who has the Texans ahead (1-0). The NBA Finals will begin on June 6.
