Celtics’ Jaylen Brown: ‘Disrespectful’ for Warriors to Dare Me to Shoot the Ball

Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

After helping lead the Boston Celtics to a 140-88 blowout win over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, Jaylen Brown sounded off about the team’s defensive strategy against him.

Brown, who scored a game-high 29 points, told reporters he found it “a little disrespectful” that the Warriors left him wide open in the first quarter and dared him to shoot the ball.

Brown scored 19 points in the opening period and had a stretch where he hit three straight three-pointers in a 40-second span. Behind his hot start, the Celtics built a 44-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Boston led by as many as 56 points in the contest, and the 52-point win is the third-largest margin of victory in franchise history.

Brown shot 11-of-19 in the victory and made five of his 10 three-pointers. The Celtics are now the first team in NBA history to win three games by 50-plus points in a single season.

“It’s never personal,” Brown said of his feelings when teams force him to shoot tha ball. “I’m sure they thought that’s what their best chance was, or whoever came up with their defensive concept. So, it’s not personal. It was a little disrespectful, to me, but it is what is. I came out and I did what I do best.”

Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters after the game that the team implemented its strategy against Brown “like 15 minutes before we left the locker room.”

The win extended the Celtics’ win streak to 11 straight games and improved their record to 48-12. Boston will begin a five-game road trip on Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.