How Jaylen Brown Is Mentally Preparing For Celtics-Pacers Series
A trip to the Eastern Conference finals isn’t anything new for Celtics guard Jaylen Brown. But this time, more than any other, Boston is under immense pressure as the pendulum has swung its way throughout the playoffs.
The Celtics breezed past the Heat and Cavaliers in the first two rounds, booking a third consecutive conference finals date. Boston takes on the Indiana Pacers starting Tuesday night — another series with home-court advantage. Still no Kristaps Porzingis return date, however, Boston’s already avoided Jimmy Butler, Jarrett Allen, and two games of Donovan Mitchell, placing the C’s right where they were last season: four wins away from an NBA Finals appearance.
“You just gotta focus on what matters the most and that’s the team,” Jaylen Brown told reporters Monday, per CLNS Media. “That’s each possession that’s in front of you. That’s whatever your job is; your scouting report. And that’s what matters most. Just be able to focus the mind on what matters. It’s easy to get distracted or deluded from what the overall goal and the target is. When you start to entertain everything else that’s going around you, it makes you less focused on the actual goal.”
Anything less than raising Banner 18 next season will drag Boston’s season from the league’s most dominant to its most disappointing.
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So far, aside from back-to-back hiccups in Game 2 against Miami and Cleveland, the Celtics haven’t gone toe-to-toe with postseason adversity. In the regular season, injuries weren’t a concern, whether impacting the starting lineup or the bench. Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla mixed the rotations, called upon the reserves, and kept the engine running en route to a league-high 64 wins.
Every playoff run takes its course, but with a roster backed by as much financial investment as the Celtics, there’s a bar to meet. Brown and Jayson Tatum are experienced, household All-Stars with plenty of postseason heartbreak under their belts. They understand performing below the team’s standard could trigger an outside reaction, which they must ignore.
“It’s basketball. Teams are gonna get hot, things are gonna play well, people are gonna play well, and you gotta navigate that,” Brown said. “Don’t overreact to it. Don’t get caught up in what (the media) might say or think about it. It happens, you just now can’t let it snowball. Can’t let it happen again. Can’t let it happen multiple times. … Just gotta stay even-keeled.”
Boston crossed paths with No.6-seeded Indiana during the In-Season Tournament in December. The Pacers best the Celtics, 122-112, eliminating Boston and foreshadowing a rematch for the real tournament.
Now it’s time for Brown and the Celtics to apply that playoff temperament in order to assure Indiana won’t go 2-for-2 in elimination stakes against Boston.