Jaylen Brown has praised Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla after the guard scored 37 points to help his team extend their winning run to four matches with a 127-112 home win over the Phoenix Suns.
The Celtics are top of the Eastern Conference with a 52-14 record and closing in on top seeding for the play-offs, with Jayson Tatum scoring 26 points and Al Horford adding 24.
“I feel like, this whole season, I’ve improved a lot of the stuff I needed to work on,” said Brown, who has been with the Celtics since 2016.
“I’ve improved my mentality and attacked my weaknesses. I feel like some of the stuff you could say about me last year, you can’t say about me this year.
“I’m excited to go into the play-offs and prove the same thing. When you lose, when you come up short and things don’t go your way – I love the quote ‘when things don’t go your way, what you’ve got is experience.'”
Read our other sports news stories here:
Police investigating allegation against Prescott
Tyson looking good ahead of Paul bout
Kawhi doubtful for road trip due to back injury
Mazzulla officially took full charge in February 2023 and was an NBA Head Coach of the Year finalist, leading his team to a play-offs defeat in the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami Heat.
Celtics vs Suns: Brown ‘smarter’
“We’ve had losses, embarassment and mistakes,” said Brown. “I use it all and just improve. It starts from the top. We’re all in this together: organisation, coaching staff and players.
“That’s what creates the environment. There’s a respect level, there are no hierarchies. We all come to work to do our job. Joe sets the tone which is coming in and being prepared.
Dunk of the night
Jaylen Brown with impressive hops as he hammers home the dunk of the night accolade.#NBAAfrica pic.twitter.com/ks1900EFLD
— NBA Africa (@NBA_Africa) March 15, 2024
“He’s diligent and he allows us to be who we are. We’ve been very well coached, we’ve been disciplined and we haven’t had so many lapses this season. We’ve been focused and smarter.”
Mazzulla credited Brown’s “defensive intensity”. “Getting off to a great start defensively gets him going and that’s big for our team,” said the 35-year-old.
“And he can score on anybody at any time. He’s playing really well-rounded basketball on both ends. It’s fun to watch.”
The Suns now have a 38-28 record and are a place outside of the top six automatic Western Conference play-off places.
