Buckle up: How Jaylen Brown has thrived defending NBA stars

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Buckle up: How Jaylen Brown has thrived defending NBA stars originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

In Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, Jaylen Brown picked the pocket of Luka Doncic in the backcourt and streaked in for a dunk. To celebrate, he mimicked a seatbelt fastening, a move he’s repeated many times this season.

Fueled by snubs for both All-Defense and All-NBA last season, Brown took out his frustrations on the Pacers and Mavericks, earning MVP honors in both the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals as Boston stomped its way to Banner 18.

Brown continues to embrace the challenge of routinely defending the opposing team’s best players to start the 2024-25 campaign.

With Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons back in town Thursday night — another early-season tilt added after Boston failed to advance in the NBA Cup — it left us wondering how Brown’s individual defensive metrics look through the first 24 games of the new season.

After all, Cunningham has been one of Brown’s most frequent assignments this season, with Brown limiting Detroit’s star guard to seven points on 3-of-9 shooting over the first two meetings of the season. Cunningham has generated 48 points on 20-of-39 shooting against all other Boston defenders this season, per NBA tracking numbers.

For the season, Brown is holding opponents to 2.5 percent shooting below expected output. That’s not only in line with his marks from last season but also second-best among regulars on the Celtics, with only Derrick White (3.2 percent below expected) ahead of him.

But it’s the level of opponent Brown is defending that makes his mark that much more impressive. It was White who noted during the 2024 playoff run that Brown deserved an All-Defense nod because of who he yearns to defend.

“[Brown] was unreal [last] season, taking on that challenge,” White said. “Whenever there’s a big name or big player, he wanted the challenge.”

This season appears to be no different. Brown’s top 10 most common matchups continues to read like an All-Star ballot. Here’s a look at Brown’s top 10 most frequent matchups this season based on total…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/buckle-jaylen-brown-thrived-defending-170628724.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-12-12 17:06:00

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