BOSTON — Jaylen Brown found himself in a unique situation last Saturday night against the Grizzlies. The No. 2 option for Boston’s offense just attempted 14 shots, his third lowest total on the season as Memphis dared Jrue Holiday into taking a barrage of open 3-point attempts. The move paid off for Memphis in the one night sample size but Brown showed no regrets about how the team’s process amid the strategic shift.
“It’s just basketball,” Brown said Wednesday. “Every game may look different and I’m ok with that. At the end of the day, the regular season is about building team chemistry and getting as many wins as you can and improving every single day. With Memphis, we saw a different strategy that somebody took and it’s something for us to learn and build off of. Whether I took 100 shots or took zero shots, don’t really matter. For me, I just come out and try to be aggressive and however many that shot chart is at the end of the night, it is what it is.”
Brown has received plenty of accolades and honors in recent years from a supermax contract to a Finals MVP in the last 18 months alone. At age 28 now, he sees his job changing on a nightly basis and wants to empower his teammates as much as he can, even at the expense of his own numbers.
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“My job is to lead my team so we can get the best out of ourselves each and every night. A lot of times for me that’s on defense. Like I feel like I can score the ball but I don’t think that’s exactly what this team needs every single night. So sometimes I play through Payton like I go take my butt to the corner, let those guys (run the offense) because they are more than capable of taking over the offense.
“Sam is more than capable of taking the offense, Payton is more than capable, Jrue can get hot any night, Derrick White can be doing his pocket three signs, JT does what he does. It’s not like I’m not capable as well. I think I could do that night to night. I’ve done it night to night in different capacities but on this team, we just need leadership, we need a defensive presence and we just need to keep the ball rolling. That’s what I focus on more than anything.”
Brown’s mentality has been on display throughout the year whether he’s guarding stars like Damian Lillard or serving as a decoy for his teammates. With Jayson Tatum questionable for Thursday’s game against the Pistons, he could be line for a heavier workload for at least one night. However, as Boston’s core rotation gets back to full strength, Brown’s willingness to adapt looms as one of Boston’s biggest offensive weapons.