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So the rematch with the Jazz, which handed the Celtics one of their more disheartening defeats of the season in early November, becomes a critical game in Boston\u2019s quest to not only stay competitive in the Eastern Conference but hold on to a top-four seed.<\/span><\/p>\n A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Brown is the team\u2019s unquestioned leader with Jayson Tatum recovering from injury<\/a>. Tatum is on every road trip, rehabbing and working out, and he sees firsthand the elevation of Brown\u2019s game. Regardless of when Tatum rejoins the Celtics, he\u2019ll pair with a player who is at the peak of his powers, and he\u2019s comfortable in his adjusted role as the primary option.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cJust playing my game, that\u2019s really it. Just playing my game,\u201d Brown said when asked about his success. \u201cI get to take the shots that I feel comfortable with. I get to attack when I want. So it\u2019s more like a rhythm thing. So I\u2019m in a really good rhythm. The pace is kind of around me, so I\u2019m able to kind of dictate where, when I want to go, what spots I want to get to throughout the course of the year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Brown is in his 10th season and is playing with a freedom he\u2019s never experienced. The difference in his shooting statistics between this season and last season are stark. For example, Brown attempted 98 shots last season between 15 and 19 feet, making 42.9 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n This year, through 37 percent of the season, Brown has taken 124 such shots and made a startling 55.6 percent. Last season, Brown attempted 80 shots between 16 and 24 feet. This season, he has already taken 116.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just being aggressive, taking what the defense gives me. Also taking what I want from the defense, but just being patient, trusting my teammates,\u201d he said. \u201cKind of the balance between letting the game come to you and then being aggressive in certain spots. I think I\u2019m really getting good at that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He has lived in the midrange and he has become a brilliant shooter from that distance. He said he enjoys being the focal point of the offense and although this stretch is eventually going to change when Tatum returns, it may benefit the Celtics in the long term because Brown has cemented his status as an untradeable cornerstone.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time where it\u2019s been like, everything going into the season was featured around me,\u201d he said. \u201cThat hasn\u2019t been the case any other point in my career where it\u2019s, like, whatever Jaylen wants to do is like, what we\u2019re gonna do. We\u2019ve had other players and things like that that we\u2019ve had to, like, figure it out. This is the first time where it\u2019s been like we\u2019re going to play to your rhythm, to your cadence. We\u2019re gonna put you in a spot where you can be successful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He said the new offensive responsibility called for his game to change and called for his vast improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think that makes a big difference for me, of like, why we are seeing it, [and why] I\u2019m seeing some of the productivity that I have now,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBut you know, in the past, we\u2019ve had other star players and talent. So you got to do what\u2019s necessary to win games and win a championship. I\u2019ve always been OK with that, but this year is just a new year, more catered to me, year to year things change. Things might change in the future, but I\u2019m enjoying it, and I\u2019m taking advantage of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has been more complimentary of Brown\u2019s defense and playmaking. In one sequence Sunday, Brown could have taken on three defenders for a midrange jumper, but instead found a wide open Hugo Gonz\u00e1lez at the elbow for a 3-point swish.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s extremely difficult for a guy like him to play balanced basketball and play team basketball,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cYou saw, you know, the assists down the stretch there, whether it\u2019s to Hugo and Derrick [White]. So not only is it extremely difficult to do that, it\u2019s extremely difficult to play well-balanced basketball. I think it\u2019s something that you know he does consistently for us, whether it\u2019s his playmaking or his defense on both ends of the floor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Brown said he\u2019s not done turning the heads of his critics yet. There\u2019s plenty more games left and the Celtics need every bit of it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStarting from where I started my career, to the MVP chants and even being in a conversation is pretty cool,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I still have some more to show this season, so I\u2019m still excited about that. We\u2019ve just got to take it one game at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/a><\/p>\n var oneTrustActive = true; try { \/\/ Default to granted consent \/\/ FB script decleration if (oneTrustActive && oneTrustConsentObj && oneTrustConsentObj.C0004 === false) { \/\/ We need to call consent before we run init and track So the rematch with the Jazz, which handed the Celtics one of their more disheartening defeats of the season in early November, becomes a critical game in Boston\u2019s quest to not only stay competitive in the Eastern Conference but hold on to a top-four seed. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jaylen-Brown-is-elevating-his-game-as-the-Celtics-offense.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15232,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15230\/revisions\/15232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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