INGLEWOOD, CA — Kawhi Leonard came into Saturday night's contest against the Boston Celtics on arguably the best stretch of his NBA career. That, paired with his recent Player of the Month snub, gave Celtics star Jaylen Brown all the motivation he needed to have arguably the best game of his NBA career.
Over the Clippers' six game winning streak, Leonard averaged 39 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.7 steals, 1.5 blocks, and 4.3 three-pointers per game while shooting an ultra efficient 53.2 percent from the field, 44.1 percent from three, and 93.5 percent from the free throw line.
It had been the best overall six-game span Leonard had put together in his career, statistically speaking. But with the hot-shooting Celtics flying around defensively, Leonard came back down to earth with 22 points, three rebounds, three assists, and three steals on 6-of-17 shooting from the field.
After the night in which he scored a career-high tying 50 points on 18-of-26 shooting from the field, Jaylen Brown made sure to acknowledge Leonard.
“I think Kawhi Leonard is like one of the greatest two-way players of all time,” Brown said after the victory. “On offense and defense, his ability to take over a game, his defensive versatility, his offensive versatility. He's been derailed by injuries, but people don't understand how much effort it takes to put that much energy on both sides of the ball. He could easily just focus on offense, focus your energy on defense, but someone that gets it all on offense and defense, that has wear and tear on the body. So he's been derailed by injuries, but in his prime, in his peak, he's one of the best two-way players of all-time in my opinion.
“Clippers were hot, they were on a six game win streak, and we wanted to come out and respond. We feel like we're one of the best teams in the league and we came out and played some great basketball.”
Jaylen Brown after scoring 50 points against Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers:
“I just wanted to win. Last game of the road trip, wanted to finish out strong. I believe I'm the best two-way player in the world. I just wanted to come out and show it.” pic.twitter.com/VNJ8c9u48B
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 4, 2026
Brown has also been putting together a great stretch for, oh, about the entire regular season now. Through his first 32 games of the year, Jaylen Brown is averaging career-highs with 30.1 points, 5.0 assists, and 51 percent shooting from the field, to go along with his 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals a night.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said that Brown texted him that he wanted the challenge of defending Kawhi Leonard on the flight to Los Angeles, the same day it was announced that New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson won Eastern Conference Player of the Month over him.
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Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) dribbles the ball against LA Clippers guard Kobe Sanders (4) in the second half at Intuit Dome.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
“Why wouldn't I [want to do that]?” Brown responded when asked why he felt he needed to defend Leonard. “I seek those challenges. I feel like it brings the most out of me. Obviously Kawhi is one of the greats, so I wanted to start on him and I just seek those matchups. My mindset is, I like when my back against the wall, I like when people doubt me.
“Even though it would be nice to get some respect, you know, keep it up,” Brown chuckled when looking around the room. “I definitely use it as fuel.”
Brown finished his first game after the Player of the Month announcement with a career-high tying 50 points on 18-of-26 shooting from the field, 6-of-10 from three, and 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
“It was unbelievable,” said Celtics teammate Derrick White, who finished with 29 points, seven assists, and five three-pointers on the night. “Just the shot-making. It didn't matter what type of shot, that was high level. it was fun to watch and he did it on both sides of the ball. Guarding Kawhi, competed. He was unbelievable. He's kind of been doing that all year. That mindset, that aggressiveness. Obviously, tonight he shot it extremely well and I think he's had that mindset all year long and it's been really fun to watch.”
Kawhi Leonard and Jaylen Brown have now matched up 11 times in their regular season NBA careers, with Leonard winning that head-to-head so far, 7-4. In those 11 games, Leonard has averaged 25.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.8 steals while Brown is averaging 14.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 0.8 steals per game.