Celtics' Payton Pritchard Reveals What He Wants People to Understand About Jaylen Brown

The point guard wants more people to pay attention to Jaylen Brown's defense.

Dec 27, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) passes the ball against the Indiana Pacers in the first quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics have two of the best players in the NBA in their starting lineup. Jayson Tatum is their best player, and he has played like it. Tatum is putting up some solid numbers, averaging 28.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. He's also shooting 37 percent from three.

Jaylen Brown is right there behind him in terms of his great play. He has averaged 24.6 points, six rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game so far this year. He's coming off his best game of the year, pouring in a career-high 44 points in Friday night's blowout win over the Pacers.

While Brown's offense has normally been what people talk about, his defense is something that deserves more attention. That's what Celtics sixth-man Payton Pritchard thinks. He wants more people to pay attention to what he does on that side of the court.

Speaking after the big win over the Pacers on Friday night, Payton gave Brown his flowers.

“What he is capable of doing, and at his size, you don’t see many people picking up full-court like that, guarding the best guards in the world,” Pritchard said. “Usually somebody his size would guard a wing, but he’s picking up the best point guards in the world full-court and then like he said, scoring 25 (per game). People don’t really understand how difficult that really is. They overestimate what that takes. He should definitely be in the All-Defensive Team category because we give him the hardest assignments. It’s an exhausting thing, and he’s creating havoc and making things tough every night. So they definitely need to take notice.”

Pritchard gets to see how well Brown plays every day in practice. Brown started his NBA career by being one of the Celtics' best defenders. Early in his career, his jump shot hadn't quite developed to the point that it was a huge weapon for him. Defensively is how he made a lot of his contributions.

The Celtics want the rest of the NBA to know that he is still that great defensive player. He typically guards the other team's best player every night. To do that while also scoring as many points as he does is extremely impressive. It's part of the reason why the Celtics are favorites to win the NBA title again this season.

More Celtics news: Celtics News: Jaylen Brown Makes Bold Statement Following Blowout Win Over Pacers