The Boston Celtics capped off a massive win over the Golden State Warriors today, with the final score standing at a whopping 88-144 in their favor. After the game, Jaylen Brown sat down with reporters to talk about the game, where he brought up having to guard Warriors superstar Stephen Curry.
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Despite coming away with a massive victory, Brown lamented how difficult it can be to guard the 6ft 2″ guard, especially for someone with his body proportions. He then also went on to give Curry a massive compliment, but one that he inarguably deserves. The following is what happened, as per an X (Formerly Twitter) post by NBA reporter, Jared Weiss.
‘Jaylen Brown: “I’m 240 lbs chasing around Steph Curry. That’s a different level of shape you have to be in. But when you’re playing the best, you have to take on that challenge.”
Said Steph is a top 10 player ever.’
Given everything Stephen Curry has done during his time in the NBA it is almost undeniable that he is indeed a top-10 player in NBA history, so it is hard to refute Brown’s opinion on this. That said, his comments about his own weight and how difficult it can be, may not be nearly as accurate.
Brown’s official weight stands at 223 lbs, not 240 lbs as he suggested. Calling himself a whopping 17 lbs heavier is one thing, but to say that his dimensions pose a greater challenge in running behind Steph does seem a bit unfair as well. After all, someone with less reach than him would have to work a lot more in trying to bother the Warriors superstar.
Instead, it is likely that, much like the rest of the league, Brown just doesn’t have as much stamina as Curry, making it close to impossible to fully contain him.
All the talk aside, however, Brown’s defense on Curry seemed to have worked like a charm during this game. After all, the Warriors guard only scored a total of four points in 16 minutes of action, making just 2 of 13 shots from the field, and 0 of 9 from beyond the arc. Steph’s minutes weren’t cut short due to any injury either. The Warriors were just left in the dust by the Celtics from very early on in this contest.
For all his exclamations about guarding Stephen Curry, Jaylen Brown seems to have figured out some kind of solution to a problem that has plagued the NBA for a long time now. And if what he did to contain Curry is repeatable by other teams in the league, the Warriors star will have to figure out how to evolve his game before it’s too late.
History on both sides of the table
Despite being drafted by the Golden State Warriors back when they seemed to have no direction, Stephen Curry has helped transform the franchise into one of the best in the NBA. As a product of that, even in defeat, Curry has often avoided humiliation, with only a few cases of his being blown out available before the last few seasons. However, unfortunately for him, he and the Warriors were not quite as lucky tonight.
This 52-point blowout loss marks the worst of Stephen Curry’s entire career. And the fact that it came against the Boston Celtics as well will likely irk him quite a bit considering the two teams have started to build a rivalry. It may even cause him to explode at the rest of his team, despite his calm and fun-loving demeanor.
As for the Boston Celtics, they have made NBA history this season by becoming the first team to win three games by 50 or more points in the same regular season, something that every player on the team will wear like a badge of honor.
Coming back to their win against the Warriors, a massive reason for it was the Warriors’ choosing not to guard Brown at the perimeter. Steve Kerr went on to explain the reasoning behind this tactical decision, saying that the Warriors wanted Draymond Green to be able to help on other matchups.
Unfortunately for them, Brown would go off for a very efficient 29 points, prompting him to react to Steve Kerr’s explanation with the following X post.
“More teams should take this strategy”
Amidst Brown’s mockery, Draymond Green also spoke on the situation, as seen in Anthony Slater’s X post.
Green choosing to move on is the only thing the Warriors can do at the moment. While this was a massive loss, it was just that – one loss. As a team, they’d much rather try out a risky strategy and have it blow up in their faces in the regular season, rather than the playoffs. That said, fans will hope that the team can now learn from this and get better, rather than make the same mistake in the future.
