Buckle up: How Jaylen Brown thrived defending NBA stars initially appeared on NBC Sports activities Boston
In Sport 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, Jaylen Brown took Luka Doncic’s pocket within the backcourt and accomplished a dunk. To have fun, he imitated buckling the seat belt, a gesture he has repeated a number of instances this season.
Fueled by All-Protection and All-NBA snubs final season, Brown took out his frustrations on the Pacers and Mavericks, profitable MVP honors within the Jap Convention and NBA Finals as Boston struggled path to banner 18.
Brown continues to face the problem of persistently defending the opposing staff’s finest gamers to start the 2024-25 marketing campaign.
With Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons returning to city Thursday night time — one other early-season tilt added after Boston did not advance within the NBA Cup — we surprise what Brown’s particular person defensive metrics appear like at in the course of the first 24 matches of the brand new season. .
In spite of everything, Cunningham has been one among Brown’s most frequent assignments this season, with Brown limiting Detroit’s star guard to seven factors on 3-of-9 capturing within the first two video games of the season. Cunningham generated 48 factors on 20-of-39 capturing in opposition to each different Boston defender this season, based on NBA monitoring numbers.
For the season, Brown is holding his opponents to capturing 2.5 p.c under anticipated output. That not solely matches his marks from final season, but in addition second-best amongst Celtics regulars, with solely Derrick White (3.2 p.c under expectations) forward of him.
However it’s the extent of opponent Brown is defending that makes his mark much more spectacular. It was White who famous in the course of the 2024 playoffs that Brown deserved an All-Protection nod due to who he aspires to defend.
“[Brown] was unreal [last] season, tackle that problem,” White stated. “Each time there was a giant title or a giant participant, he needed to tackle the problem.
This season seems to be no totally different. Brown’s prime 10 commonest matchups proceed to learn like an All-Star poll. This is a take a look at Brown’s prime 10 most frequent faceoffs this season, based mostly on whole possessions defended, based on NBA monitoring:
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Past Antetokounmpo, Brown has been rock strong in opposition to among the opposition’s prime threats. This made us surprise the place Brown may rank amongst different non-centers when it comes to total protection.
Amongst 70 certified gamers 6 ft 7 inches or shorter, with at the very least 10 subject targets defended per recreation and greater than 10 video games performed, Brown ranks 14th total whereas holding opponents to 2.5 p.c undershooting share of baskets anticipated. Maybe extra spectacular: Brown’s anticipated opponent passing share of 47.3 p.c ranks fifth in that group, highlighting how usually he defends elite scorers.
Brown’s foul share fell to a career-low 2.6 p.c of Boston’s video games, based on information from Cleansing the Glass. This ranks within the eightieth percentile amongst all wings. Boston’s defensive ranking is 1.3 factors higher per 100 possessions with Brown on the court docket in non-trash minutes, based on CTG information. Brown’s steal and block percentages are down a bit from final season, however are in keeping with his profession averages.
Sneaking onto an All-Protection staff will not be a simple aim for Brown, particularly when Boston’s beginning backcourt of White and Jrue Vacation has turn out to be a mainstay on this 10-man roster. Final season, Brown acquired simply seven factors in media voting, garnering three first-team votes and one second-team vote.
However his willingness to tackle defensive challenges, all with out sacrificing his offensive efficiency, deserves better consideration. Brown has made nice strides on that aspect of the ball. And we expect we’ll see much more seat belt celebrations sooner or later.
