Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown just had the best playoff run of his career. Coming away with the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, NBA Finals MVP, and the Larry O’Brien Trophy, there isn’t much he can complain about aside from his Olympic snub. However, Brown was left off of both the 2023-24 All-NBA and All-Defensive teams.
For a top player, one who genuinely excels at both ends no less, it was a slap in the face. Frankly, him missing the cut for an All-Defensive team might be the biggest travesty. Though the Celtics have multiple units that thrive defensively, Brown was a commanding presence at that end. Night in and night out, he took the responsibility of guarding the other team’s best player.
It would be inaccurate to say he was a shutdown corner, so to speak. It’s not as if he was holding stars to single digits. Nonetheless, they had a lot of difficulty scoring on him.
This week, the Celtics begin their preseason, taking on the Denver Nuggets. Interestingly, this is the matchup many expected in the 2024 NBA Finals. Instead, Boston took on Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks. During a recent appearance on Hot Ones, Brown explained what guarding Doncic and Irving is like.
Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Explains How To Orchestrate Elite Defense
“Being an elite defender, you gotta study guys’ rhythm,” Brown explains. “It’s a rhythm and cadence to how people play. So if you see certain guys, they play to a certain beat, to a certain cadence. They play a certain style. And if you know their style, you can time what they’re going to do next because you know the rhythm and the BPM (beats per minute) that they kind of play at.
Jaylen Brown compared guarding Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to listening to music 🎶
“Luka has a unique rhythm. It’s almost so slow that it’s hard to time. Kyrie has a unique rhythm … I look at basketball as [music]. Everybody is playing their song … If you want to stop them… pic.twitter.com/9OjYRLhYeX
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) October 3, 2024
Luka has a unique rhythm. It’s almost so slow that it’s hard to time. Kyrie has a unique rhythm as well, very one of one. So his moves and how his cadence is is sometimes very, very hard to time. He has a lot of counter moves. Like he can go and pivot off both feet. He can shoot with both hands. He can drive both directions. Which makes his rhythm a lot harder to track.”
“Some guys only go right… only go left. Some guys have two moves that they go to. So I look at basketball as like poetry in motion, which is music. Everybody is playing their own song, you know? Everybody samples from different artists and they’re playing their own song. If you want to stop them, you gotta study their rhythm. You gotta learn when their beat is about to drop.”
Brown’s symphonic simile is an ingenious way to explain playing defense at a high level. When any player is attempting to score, they have a blueprint for how they’ll get buckets. Even seemingly unpredictable players have their preferences.
Music Lessons
Irving gives ‘having the ball on a string’ a new meaning.
Basketballs are like an extension of his hand the way he seamlessly shifts the ball from side to side, between his legs, behind his back while weaving his across the hardwood. However, he also excels at changing his speeds on his way to the rim. Knowing when Irving is likely to shift gears could help defenders like Brown when it comes to guarding the eight-time All-Star.
Doncic, as Brown notes, plays at his own pace. A big-bodied playmaker who isn’t the typical athlete, Doncic relies on power and ball-handling to create separation rather than explosiveness or agility. With that being said, Doncic is particularly fond of a particular type of jumper.
Most Efficient Stepback Jumpshooters in '23-'24…
What stands out? pic.twitter.com/aEajz6lSHM
— NBA University (@NBA_University) October 4, 2024
Similar to reading Irving’s body like a musical composition, looking for notations that signal he’s about to accelerate or decelerate, knowing when Doncic is about to step back could help an elite defender slow him down.
