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Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics faced the Denver Nuggets in the second game of the preseason. After winning the first game of the 2024 NBA Abu Dhabi Games, the Celtics won the second game by a huge margin. However, it was one of Brown's plays on Jamal Murray that remained the highlight of the preseason game.
In one of the plays, with just over seven minutes left in the second quarter, Murray was left on an island with the reigning NBA Finals MVP. Murray started defending an aggressive Brown in the corner.
After a few dribbles, Brown turned his back towards Murray and scored over the Nuggets guard with a turnaround floater. However, as Jaylen Brown was jogging back to his defensive assignments, he hit Murray with a "too small" celebration.
While the preseason games are mostly used by the teams to give chances to younger players, the Celtics seem to take a different approach. The team is playing hard, and seems like asserting dominance early in the season is the game plan.
The Celtics defeated the Nuggets in the second preseason game, 130-104. Brown scored a game-high 21 points in 23 minutes. Jayson Tatum also scored 17 points in as many minutes.
Jaylen Brown talks Celtics defending the title and his favorite Joe Mazzulla quote
Jaylen Brown is one of the hottest names in the NBA right now. The Boston Celtics star has largely led a very private life, rarely appearing for public interviews or shows. However, Brown made an exception and appeared on "Hot Ones," hosted by Sean Evans.
Brown started by saying that he decided to come on the show because going forward, he will try to clear "misconceptions" about him.
When Evans asked the Celtics star about his team's mentality entering the season, he said that as a team, the Celtics have to raise the level of play and fight to get relaxed.
"I think the pressure and the expectation level needs to be raised," Brown told the host. "Human nature kind of sneaks in once you win, and makes you kind of relax." [1:45]
Jaylen Brown also talked about his head coach Joe Mazzulla and his unique way of thinking about the game. Brown said that Mazzulla's methods were in the realm of madness but they worked.
He also mentioned one of Mazzulla's favorite quotes:
"One of Coach Mazzulla's favorite things is like 'there's no such thing as a foul. Either you die or you don't.'" [2:45]
Jaylen Brown and the Celtics will enter the season to defend the championship title. Given how the other teams in the league have made roster changes in the offseason, it will be a big task for the defending champions to win it again.
