Celtics notebook: Mavs coach Jason Kidd calls Jaylen Brown the Celtics’ best player

Jayson Tatum has made the All-NBA first team in each of the last three seasons. But Jason Kidd claimed Saturday that he’s not even the best player on his own team.

Ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks head coach nonchalantly said that honor belongs to Jaylen Brown, not Tatum.

“Well, Jaylen’s their best player,” Kidd said after Saturday’s Mavs practice. “Just looking at what he does defensively. He picked up Luka (Doncic) full-court, he got to the free-throw line — he did everything, and that’s what your best player does.

“Just understanding that he plays both sides, defense and offense, at a high rate, and he’s been doing that the whole playoffs, when you talk about the Eastern Conference (finals) MVP.”

Brown was one of the best players on the floor in Game 1 — team-high 22 points, six rebounds, two assists, three steals, three blocks. He was highly effective driving to the basket and led Boston’s full-team defensive effort against Doncic.

The Celtics won easily, 107-89.

“It seems like he’s continued to pick up where he left off,” Kidd said. “He’s playing at a high rate. We’ve just got to be a little more physical with him, and we’ve got to keep him off the free throw line and out of the paint, because he was finishing at a high rate, or he was getting fouled and getting to the free throw line.”

Kidd’s game plan certainly showed a great deal of respect for Tatum, however. He was double-teamed throughout Game 1, with Dallas clearly devoting extra attention to limiting his offensive looks.

Tatum finished with a modest 16 points (6 of 16, 3 of 7 from 3-point range) with six turnovers, but the Mavericks’ laser focus on him freed up looks for his teammates. The Celtics outscored the Mavs by 19 points across Tatum’s 42 minutes, the second-best mark for any player behind Jrue Holiday’s plus-20.

While Brown’s defensive prowess could elevate him above Tatum in Kidd’s eyes, the coach’s comments seemed like a clear attempt at gamesmanship amid what should be a competitive series. That’s how Tatum viewed them.

“We understand that people try to drive a wedge in between us,” said Tatum, who leads the Celtics in points, rebounds and assists this postseason. “It’s a smart thing to do, or try to do, but we’ve been in this position for plenty of years with guys trying to divide us, say that one of us should be traded or one’s better than the other.

“It’s not our first time. … We’re not the first duo to go through it, and we won’t be the last.”

Brown, Tatum’s teammate since the latter entered the NBA in 2018, said he had “no reaction” to Kidd’s praise.

“It’s a team game,” he said. “I try to focus on that. Everybody has their own opinions.”

Game 2 is Sunday night in Boston at 8 p.m.

Porzingis ramps up

Joe Mazzulla said before Game 1 that Porzingis would have no minutes restriction in his return from a calf strain. Turns out, that wasn’t entirely true.

Porzingis admitted Saturday that he is, in fact, on a minutes restriction, but that he feels “good” after logging 21 highly impactful minutes in Thursday’s blowout win.

The 7-foot-2 center surprised himself with how well he performed after a 38-day layoff. He scored 20 points off the bench, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks.

“To be honest, the way I moved, looking back now at the game, I don’t I even expected myself to be moving so well,” he said. “So that was a good sign for myself. And now having two days in between (games), preparing my body again and getting even probably better conditioning now for next game will be huge.”

It’s unclear whether Porzingis will return to the starting lineup or again come off the bench, which he’s done just twice in his NBA career. Al Horford has started the last 11 games at the five spot for Boston.

Brown calls for noise

Kyrie Irving raised eyebrows when he said the TD Garden crowd, which booed him relentlessly in Game 1, was not as noisy as he was expecting.

Brown said the same Saturday, challenging Celtics fans to step their game up Sunday night.

“I thought the crowd was good,” Brown said. “I think we can be a little bit better. I expect us to be even louder. Sunday, we are going to need our fans to be hyped. It’s not just team versus team. It’s crowd versus crowd. It’s gas station versus gas station. Supermarket versus supermarket. It’s the whole city versus the whole city. We need everybody.”

After Sunday, the best-of-seven series will shift to Dallas for Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 5 on Friday.

Mazzulla helping Mayo

Jerod Mayo recently said Mazzulla has been a “great resource” for him as he adjusts to his new gig as Patriots head coach.

Mazzulla shed light on his relationship with Mayo, saying they first bonded when they were up-and-coming assistants. Mazzulla believes it’s important for Boston’s head coaches to support each other.

“I think as you get into this, you start to realize that once you’re in a position, nobody can really relate to you except for other people in that position,” the Celtics coach said. “So you just grow a bond with other coaches because you know what they’re going through. You know what the challenges, you know what the opportunities are, you know the situation that you’re in.

“So I think it’s really important that we all stick together — me, him, coach (Jim) Montgomery, Alex (Cora). You just have to stick together and help each other through it, because each of our four coaches have been through different experiences, whether it’s inside Boston or outside Boston.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/mVaQMe5