"It Was Embarrassing. I Dropped The Ball" - Jaylen Brown Using His Game 7 Failures To Fuel The Best Season Of His Life Should Not Be Overlooked

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Every season of his NBA career, Jaylen Brown has returned from the summer a better player. To think where he is now compared to where he was in 2016 is pretty insane and is a testament to his hard work and dedication. Even after a career year secured Jaylen a $300M supermax, he still came back even better in 2024, which isn't exactly something you see all the time when stars get paid like that. 

You have to remember what life was like around this time last year. The Celts were title favorites and choked away a Game 7 on their home floor. Tatum got hurt, and it was Jaylen's responsibility to step up and carry the team. By his own admission, he failed. His MIA series and that Game 7 specifically was probably the worst Jaylen Brown has played in his entire Celtics career. Plenty of players would allow that to get in their heads and negatively impact them moving forward.

Jaylen? The first thing he did was acknowledge it postgame. He took the responsibility, he owned his failure, and he vowed to be better. Now a year later, he gave us an inside look into his mindset as a result of that Game 7 loss

This is a leader. This is growth. This is what being a franchise player is all about. When people talk about how in order to win an NBA title you have to go through hell and you need the playoff scars, Jaylen Brown's ascension and play in 2024 is a perfect example of that. Really the whole team is, but Jaylen specifically. When he made All NBA last year, people said that wasn't deserving. When he got his deal, people said he wasn't worth it given what had happened in that Game 7. He didn't have a left hand, remember that??

But like the greats do, he used it as fuel. He didn't push back when it came to his flaws, he embraced them and put in the work to turn those weaknesses into strengths. In some ways, we can all learn from this in our normal everyday lives. I feel like this is a big part of why his run right now is so satisfying. He's earned it.

If we're being honest, Jaylen's play since the All Star Break has been absolute nails and then some

Now, here we sit one win away from Jaylen not only being an NBA Champion, but being in a pretty good position to add a Finals MVP to put right next to his ECF MVP. It all seems so surreal if you've been here since the beginning

Despite the previous shortcomings and the pain of that failure, the franchise did not waver when it came to the belief in both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. They could have flipped Jaylen for a win now superstar, whether that was Kawhi or Paul George or Bradley Beal, pick a name and Jaylen was thrown around in those trade rumors.

But this team knew what they had. They knew they had a player who would not run from the grind and would work like hell to be the type of player the franchise needed if they wanted to win a title.

There wasn't a lower moment for both the team and for Jaylen than that MIA Game 7 performance. That was rock bottom in my opinion. 

It could have been the end, but as we're starting to see, maybe it was actually just the beginning. 

P.S.

I would also say this about Luka. Everyone on earth is destroying him right now, and for good reason. But to me, this is just his process of obtaining playoff scars. He's having his Jayson Tatum Finals + Jaylen Game 7 moment, and it'll be up to him to do something about it. The Jays used it as fuel and got better from it and here they are. The same is entirely possible with Luka, but he has to want it and be willing to make the sacrifices required in order to reverse the narrative.