Jaylen Brown realized one night that he needed to be the one who made plays. The next night, the great player for the Celtics scored like he always does and set the tone on defense.

Over the course of two nights in Texas, Brown continued to show the Celtics how much he has improved in every way. Ime Udoka’s Rockets didn’t want to let him score easily like they did in the first game, but Brown didn’t try to force anything. Instead, he happily played the role of facilitator while getting his third career triple-double. After twenty-four hours, Brown played aggressively on both ends in a win over the Mavericks in Dallas. He scored 34 points and slowed down Luka Doncic on defense.

Brown has said that he thinks this is the best basketball season of his career. After the painful ends to the last three seasons, which showed some of his flaws, Brown has decided to become a better player all around. After 44 games, the effects are clear, and the Celtics’ two-game win in Texas is the most recent example.

Brown told reporters after Monday’s win, “I have faith in myself.” Every year I feel like I get better, and I’m going to keep getting better. I don’t care what feedback comes from fans, whether they are your own fans or fans of someone else. I’m going to keep getting better until I die.

That means working on both his body and his game.

In the win over the Mavericks on Monday, Brown just wore down Doncic on both ends of the court. He went after Doncic while he was on attack and caught him. Then he was put in charge of protecting him. Doncic got a triple-double with 33 points, but he missed 30 shots, which is a very bad shooting percentage.

Brown is proud of how well he plays both offense and defense, and he says it’s because his body has gotten better.

Brown told reporters, “Being able to put pressure on both sides of the ball means you have to be in a certain shape.” “You should focus on attacking and being rough on both sides of the ball.”

Early in the season, Brown said he had to ask to be the main defender on stars like Doncic. But now people expect it.

Brown told the press, “I think it’s normalized now.” This is what I’ve been doing all season. I’ve been watching out for the best players on almost every team every night, so I think it’s normal now.

This season, Brown has been the most vocal Celtics player in support of keeping up a high level of defense. When Marcus Smart left, he wanted to make sure that the Celtics didn’t lose any in that area. Brown has openly pushed himself as an All-Defensive player more than once this season.

Brown has already proven himself to be one of the best scorers in the league, and games like Monday will only make him a better defender. He wants to be noticed, and he hopes that it will help him do better when it counts.

It seems like we only respect players who can play one side of the ball. Brown said, “I think we don’t really respect people who guard and play defense, get deflections and steals, and change the game in that area.” “The NBA has marketed people who can score, so we praise them. But basketball is about both sides.”

The honest truth is that I push myself to be the best I can be on both sides of the ball when I’m trying to get better. I think that times like this help you get ready for the long term. When you can pick up guys full court and wear their shirts for a long time, it helps you get ready for the playoffs and other games like that. In the playoffs last year, I did some of that, especially when I picked up James Harden full court in the Philadelphia game. But my body is different now, so I plan to build that up so we can go back to it and I can do it for long periods of time when I need to.

Use of tip-ins

In Monday’s win over the Mavs, Brown and Tatum made more history. They were the first players in NBA history to both score 30 points, have two or more blocks, and not turn the ball over. When Brown and Tatum both score 30 points in the same game, the Celtics win 27-2.

USA Basketball named its first group of 41 players for the Olympics this summer. Four Celtics are in that group: Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White. Tatum and Holiday were both on the Olympic team that won gold in Tokyo in 2020. The statement on Tuesday is the first step toward putting together the 12-person team.