{"id":80801,"date":"2024-06-08T14:40:49","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T18:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=80801"},"modified":"2024-06-08T14:40:49","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T18:40:49","slug":"jason-kidd-drops-mic-celtics-best-player-jaylen-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/08\/jason-kidd-drops-mic-celtics-best-player-jaylen-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Kidd Drops the Mic on Celtics\u2019 \u2018Best Player\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe it was just gamesmanship, but with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/07\/how-the-dallas-mavericks-can-keep-their-game-two-winning-streak\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals<\/a> just a day away, Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd let the mic drop when asked about Boston Celtics wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, Jaylen\u2019s their best player,\u201d Kidd declares.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jason Kidd was asked what makes going up against Jaylen Brown so challenging:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, Jaylen\u2019s their best player.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iIYbXgZw1m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/iIYbXgZw1m<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Noa Dalzell \ud83c\udfc0 (@NoaDalzellNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NoaDalzellNBA\/status\/1799482600224113077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust looking at what he does defensively,\u201d Kidd continues. \u201cHe picked up Luka full court. Got to the free throw line. He did everything and that\u2019s what your best player does.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cJust understanding, he plays both sides \u2014defense and offense \u2014at a high rate. He\u2019s been doing that the whole playoffs. When you talk about the Eastern Conference MVP, it seems like he\u2019s continued to pick up (sic) where he left off. So he\u2019s playing at a high rate.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Jason Kidd Drops the Mic on Celtics\u2019 \u2018Best Player\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>As a Hall of Fame point guard who\u2019s won over 350 games since transitioning to the coaching side, Kidd\u2019s words hold a lot of weight. While most people aren\u2019t going to agree with him, Brown\u2019s production, skills, and upwards trajectory have been undeniable. To his point, Brown\u2019s also been Boston\u2019s most steady two-way presence this postseason.<\/p>\n<h3>Offense<\/h3>\n<p>Averaging 24.8 points per game on 54.3 percent shooting from the field and 36.6 percent from 3, he\u2019s undeniably outplayed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayson Tatum<\/a> at that end. Tatum\u2019s averaging a team-high 25.3 points per game this postseason, but shooting just 43.8 percent from the field and 29.9 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s more to offense, like facilitating, and this is where Tatum has an edge. Averaging 5.9 assists per game to Brown\u2019s 2.6 assists per game, his playmaking impact is significantly high than his running mate\u2019s. Nonetheless, Tatum\u2019s inefficiency has been hard to overlook. To that point, in Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, Tatum went 3-7 from 3 but struggled to convert his 2s. Not only did he shoot 33.3 percent (3-9) from inside the arc, he only took two free-throws.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of free-throws, Kidd could be trying to bait Brown with his comments about his ability to get to the line. After all, while Brown scored 22 points in Game 1, he went 5-11 at the charity stripe. In fact, he\u2019s shooting 61.9 percent from the free-throw line this postseason. That said, he can get players into foul trouble, even if he doesn\u2019t convert his freebies. Ultimately, that makes his ability to generate fouls beneficial in and of itself.<\/p>\n<h3>Defense<\/h3>\n<p>At the other end, Brown does regularly take on tough matchups, and does well when doing so. Whether in one-on-one matchups, chasing defenders, or making plays in the passing lanes, he\u2019s a difference-maker. Kidd\u2019s had plenty of chances to see that before, but in Game 1 he saw Brown do some of his best work, the 27-year-old finishing the game with three steals and three blocks. It was his fifth game this postseason with multiple steals.<\/p>\n<p>Tatum\u2019s physical tools and technique make him a solid defender, but he\u2019s not as reliable or effective as Brown.<\/p>\n<h3>Checking Their Egos<\/h3>\n<p>The Celtics do have to be careful not to let Kidd\u2019s words get into their heads. As it so often happens. Boston\u2019s togetherness has been key to their dominance. Therefore, divisions must be sealed, and egos silenced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe it was just gamesmanship, but with Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals just a day away, Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd let the mic drop when asked about Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown. \u201cWell, Jaylen\u2019s their best player,\u201d Kidd declares. Jason Kidd was asked what makes going up against Jaylen Brown so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":80808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1608,30,62,3],"tags":[218,450,798,596],"class_list":["post-80801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nba","category-news","tag-jason-kidd","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}