Cal Basketball: Jaylen Brown After 2 Missed FTs in Loss to Knicks - `I've Got To Be Better'

Celtics star is having a career year but Boston has now lost three games in a row.

Jaylen Brown is enjoying the best season of his seven-year NBA career, but with the bar so high every misstep is highlighted.

After Brown missed two free throws with 7.6 seconds left that could have given the Boston Celtics the lead in what became a 120-117 loss to the New York Knicks, no one had to point a finger at the one-time Cal standout on Thursday night.

Brown took care that himself.

"I've just got to be better, to be honest," Brown said. "Tonight was a rough game, and I'm a better basketball player than I played today.

"Those two missed free throws kind of embodied the whole game. I didn't get it going, didn't give my teammates enough energy to get the win, and that's what happens when you don't come out and give your best. I'll be better.”

Jaylen Brown / Photo by Bob DiChiara, USA Today

Brown was hardly horrible: He scored 22 points on 8-for-22 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in 42 minutes. But the missed free throws changed the game.

Brown entered the night shooting a career-best 78.7 percent from the foul line and was 5-for-5 prior to the final two.

The 26-year-old guard missed four of the Celtics previous seven games due to an adductor injury but he scored at a 30-points-per-game clip over 10 games prior to that.

There will be no extended pity party after Thursday's game, Brown said.

"I think for your own sanity, just let it go," said Brown, averaging a career-best 26.8 points this season. "Come out, keep playing basketball and come out and be a better version of yourself.

"I love this game, and I love the highs and the lows of it. It comes with it, so you don't shy away from it. You take it, you wear it and be better in the next one.”

The next one for Boston is Saturday at home against the Lakers in a game set to be televised by NBC.

The Celtics own the best record in the NBA at 35-15 but they have lost three in a row after winning their nine previous games. Boston is determined to make it back to the NBA Finals, where a year ago they lost 4 games to 2 to the Golden State Warriors.

Brown credits interim coach Joe Mazzula for helping to keep the team pointed in the right direction.

"It's mentality. Having a tough mind,” he said. "After losing two games tonight would be a great game to show that, and we dropped the ball, and I dropped the ball, as a leader.

“I didn't give the energy needed to help my team win and those two free throws just kind of embodied my whole performance tonight.”

Cover photo of Jaylen Brown by Ron Chenoy, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo