On Wednesday night, Damian Lillard scored 32 points, shooting 11-of-21 from the field and 6-of-10 from behind the three-point line. He was efficient, and he almost led the Milwaukee Bucks to an impressive comeback over the Boston Celtics.
A box-score glance at his stat line would conclude that he picked the Celtics apart. And in the last few minutes of the contest, he played well.
That doesn’t tell the whole story.
Not seen on the stat sheet is the full-court press Jaylen Brown played against him. The ball denial on inbounds plays. Brown’s chase-down, unrelenting defense hounded Lillard all night.
“I thought Jaylen’s mindset and intensity to start the game was kind of what kept us connected throughout the game,” Joe Mazzulla said. “And he set the tone as far as our defensive intensity for the game. And the rest of the guys picked up on that.”
Brown guarded Milwaukee’s star guard for a team-high 6:16 of game time, yet only four of Lillard’s 21 shots were against him. He shot 2-of-4. One make was directly off a Brook Lopez screen, and the other, Brown got punished for playing too high up in the pick-n-roll and Lillard blew by him.
Instead, Lillard did his best to avoid going up against Brown. He took 15 shots against Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis combined. The Bucks looked to get him switched onto a big anytime they could.
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
Lillard’s efficiency was impressive, but in the case of Brown, his importance goes beyond the opponent’s shooting percentage. His eagerness to guard the best players on opposing team sends a strong message to his Celtics brothers.
“It’s powerful. What that does for our team,” said Jayson Tatum. “How much better it makes us. Seeing him take the challenge of guarding the best guard on the team, picking them up full court, [and] chasing him around all night, it has an impact on the rest of the team and really gives everybody else no excuses, right? If he can do that all night while still trying to be effective on the offensive end. It’s nothing short of special.”
Brown spent the entire night finding Lillard in the backcourt after a Celtics bucket and trailing him all the way up the floor. He didn’t give Lillard any space to breathe.
At the beginning of the season, Brown made it his mission to make the All-Defensive First Team. All year long, he’s embraced the challenge of guarding opposing stars every night. It gets him fired up.
Asked about his matchup with Lillard post-game, Brown cracked a smile.
“It’s fun. It’s like a game of chess,” Brown said. “A guy has it going on, they want to be aggressive, they’re going to him every possession. Pick him up, be aggressive. Sometimes you got to be back. It’s good. Always gives you good information.”
With all the new additions Boston made this summer, sacrifice was inevitable. Rather than taking a step back, Brown simply adjusted his focus.
He’s still a top scoring options on the Celtics. Since the All-Star break, he’s been one of the most dominant scorers in the league. But he’s put more effort into the defensive end this year than ever before.
“Our guys are not just defined by one thing, and we understand that, in order to win, we have to play well-connected basketball, and it starts with intensity and physicality,” said Mazzulla. “Jaylen has done a great job of that.”
The Celtics love defense. That breeds winning. And Brown is at the forefront of that charge.
