A thank you to Boston’s warrior

The Boston Celtics’ 24-25 season has officially come to an end as they fell short of their ultimate goal, losing to the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs. This is the first time since the 20-21 season that Boston hasn’t at least made the Eastern Conference Finals. Naturally, with the title expectations for this roster, the end result is heartbreaking, but there is still a lot to be thankful for.

Right now, I feel most thankful for Boston’s warrior, Jaylen Brown.

Jaylen had high expectations coming into this season. He was in the first year of his massive contract extension which was the richest of all time when he signed it. He was also fresh off receiving the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP, and many people felt like he should have had a spot on Team USA’s roster in the Olympics, but there was speculation that he was held off due to a personal feud with Nike. Not only that, but he’s around the age where he should be entering the prime of his career, still just 28 years old.

Well, statistically, this ended up being a bit of a disappointing season for JB. In the regular season he posted his least efficient field goal percentage since his rookie year, his worst three-point percentage of his career, and his lowest points per game since his 19-20 season.

The story was similar come playoff time. Again, he put up his lowest PPG since the 19-20 season, while also having his worst FG%, worst 2P%, his third worst playoff 3P%, and his second-highest turnovers per game of his playoff career.

Reading that may make hard to find something to be thankful for. That’s because it lacks context.

Jaylen has consistently worked his tail off to improve year after year. Fans have come to expect him to constantly elevate his game because of it. That is undoubtedly a good thing, even if it can bring on more criticism down the road. As Joe Mazzulla would probably say, it’s something that JB now “gets” to deal with.

With the exception of the 21-22 season, this is the first time in Brown’s 9-year career where he hasn’t increased his FG% from the previous season, his numbers jumping from 45.4% in his rookie year to 49.9% last year. This year he fell back to 46.3% – not an outstanding number, yet still respectable for someone who shoots at a high volume.

With all of the talent on the Celtics roster, JB was willing to take a small step back. He attempted 17.7 FGA per game, a pretty high number, but his lowest rate since the 19-20 season. Combine that with the lower efficiency, and you have your explanation for why his PPG was at his lowest in the same window, giving Boston 22.2 PPG.

To make up for the difference in scoring, Jaylen addressed one of his biggest criticisms. He looked to distribute the ball more, putting up his career-high in APG (assists per game) at 4.5. That’s good for just about a 1 APG increase over his previous season. He also put up his best assist-to-turnover ratio in the process, just over 1.7 assists for every turnover.

All the while, Jaylen spent maybe about a month of the regular season and all of the playoffs playing through a partially torn meniscus. That information wasn’t made publicly available until after Boston’s season came to a close. We were all under the impression that Brown’s knee was perfectly fine structurally, and that it was just a bone-bruise in his knee which was limiting him. Along with the knee injury, Jaylen also dislocated a finger in Boston’s first round series with the Magic, another injury he decided to play through.

It was clear that he didn’t have the same aggression and explosiveness after we first heard that he had an issue with his knee. He was visibly limping, grimacing, or otherwise walking gingerly at times, but he fought through it because he knew what this team’s goals were for this season. In his exit interview, Brad Stevens spoke about JB playing through the injury, calling him “a warrior” and saying he “takes great pride in being out there.”

When Jayson Tatum went down with his ruptured Achilles, it sent shockwaves throughout the team and beyond. It was something that clearly affected all of the players, and for Jaylen, it also meant that he was expected to shoulder more of the burden as Boston’s second star. Even while being limited by his own injury, he took it in stride, and put up one of his most complete games of his career.

In Game 5 of the second round series, JB gave the Celtics 26 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, and 1 steal on 9-17 shooting, 3-5 from three. Those 12 assists were a game-high between both teams, and a playoff career high for Jaylen. He also did it with a 6:1 assist to turnover ratio.

To compliment what he did in the box score, Brown showed us glimpses of what we saw from him in last year’s Finals defensively. The knee injury had mostly limited him from keeping up with the standard he set previously up to this point, but he did an outstanding job covering Jalen Brunson in this game. His energy set the tone, especially when he laid out to save a loose ball in Marcus Smart fashion.

Game 6 was a tough watch for Celtics fans. It seemed like the wheels had fallen off as the Knicks just pummeled them. Brown didn’t have a very pretty game himself, but it felt like he was the only one who really came ready to play. He led the team in points, rebounds, assists, and tied as the leader in steals and blocks as well. He finished with a final line of 20 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.

JB had previously said he was going to war for the city of Boston, and this year really showed that he’s a man of his word. He was willing to put his body on the line and give the team whatever he could. Players with that kind of character don’t come around all that often, and it’s something that I truly appreciate about Jaylen.

Fans have been quick to throw Brown around in trade rumors with the second apron hanging over Boston’s head and Tatum expected to be out for the entirety of the 25-26 season. I don’t think they realize just what we’d be giving up.

Jaylen is a leader. He’s a warrior. He’s someone whose jersey I expect to go up in the Garden rafters when it’s all said and done. His impact spreads far and wide both on and off the court, and I’m grateful that he’s on my team.

As we all know, the NBA is a business, and Brad Stevens will do whatever he can to put the Celtics in the best possible position to succeed. That may mean moving Jaylen, and if it does, I trust Brad to get a haul in return. But Brad also restated his faith in Jaylen to lead this team through Jayson’s absence next year in his exit interview.

I tend to agree with Brad. I think JB has done plenty to prove his commitment to his craft and to the Boston Celtics. Whatever happens, though, I’m just thankful for the journey we’ve had together thus far.

Here’s to Jaylen Brown. May he have a speedy recovery from his knee injury, and come back even stronger next year – that too in a Boston Celtics uniform.