Jaylen Brown Sends Message to Rest of NBA After Crushing Warriors

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Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics made quick work of the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics didn’t mess around this time against the Golden State Warriors. Facing the team that beat them in the 2022 NBA Finals, the Celtics, led by Brown, got off to a torrid start on Sunday, March 3, and cruised to a 140-88 victory for their 11th straight victory.

After the game, Brown, who scored 19 of his game-high 29 points in the first quarter, put the rest of the NBA on notice. He said he respects the Warriors, but it’s now Boston’s time to shine.

Jaylen Brown: ‘It’s Our Time Now’

Brown and the Celtics didn’t waste any time against the Warriors. Boston used a 58-13 run in the first half to bury the Warriors and grab an 82-38 halftime lead.

The Celtics did it on both ends of the floor. Brown made three straight 3-pointers during that Boston run and then turned up his defense on Steph Curry, who arguably had his worst game as a professional.

Curry, questionable with a knee injury, suited up and went 0-for-9 from 3-point land. He made just two of 13 shots from the floor and finished with a season-low four points. The game was so out of hand, Curry didn’t play in the second half.

After the game, Brown said it’s now Boston’s time to shine.

“We didn’t come out and mess around, and that’s just how we show our respect to the game,” Brown said. “We handle business and take care of it, but we don’t do it arrogantly.

“It’s a lot of respect for the Golden State Warriors, but we feel like it’s our time now.”

Brown Took What the Warriors Gave Him

While Brown did a job on Curry defensively, the same can’t be said for Draymond Green’s defensive on Brown. Green and the Warriors had a plan to back off Brown and let him shoot. He certainly made them pay.

Brown made 11 of his 19 field-goal attempts, including going 5-for-10 from 3-point range. Brown called Golden State’s defensive game plan “disrespectful.”

“The first time that’s ever happened to me,” Brown told reporters. “Honestly, I was a bit surprised. It took a little bit of adjusting. I think we just took advantage of whatever that attempt was.

“For the most part, my job is to get to the pain. We’ve got enough 3-point shooters on the team.

“If you want to dare me to shoot, we can do that, too. I thought it was a little disrespectful, but we took advantage of it, and we didn’t look back.”

Green admitted defeat and simply said it’s time for the Warriors to put this one behind them and move on to the next one.

“It didn’t work,” Green said. “Oh well. We move on. I thought it was fun to try. I was actually all for it. Let’s try and see if it works. If it doesn’t, oh well. If it does, we found something. All right, it didn’t work, so we move on.”

The Celtics look to make it 12 straight wins when they travel to face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday to kick off a five-game road trip.

Mike Thomas is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Boston Celtics. He previously worked as an NBA and NFL writer for Sportscasting and was the Sports Editor for The Herald News in Fall River, Massachusetts for 16 years. More about Mike Thomas