March 15, 2026, 2:10 p.m. ET
In a season where his skills as an orchestrator for the Boston Celtics were more needed than ever, star forward Jaylen Brown has put up career highs in assists. This has not only helped the Georgia native help to make up for the absence of his costar on the wing Jayson Tatum as the St. Louis native recovered from an Achilles tendon injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA East Semis, but catapulted Brown into legitimate Most Valuable Player contention.
And his coach, Joe Mazzulla, has taken note, extolling that growth after a recent Celtics win vs. the Washington Wizards at TD Garden. “If you look at his potential assists, if you look at the shot creation that he had for others, to me, I thought he got off to a great start facilitating,” he explained.
“On the offensive end, he had the possession in the first half where he got two offensive rebounds, had two kick-outs at Derrick (White),” he added, “where you’re playing against the team again, this team was down double digits, and (he) brought the Orlando (Magic) game into overtime, right?”
“And they have a tendency to hang around because of the way that they compete and their coaching and you have to win momentum plays,” said Mazzulla. “You have to be able to do that.”
“So I think those plays – especially in the first half – I think JB got us off doing those things, got us off to a great start from a momentum point. And sometimes the box score is unforgiving because it doesn’t show the things that you did to put your team in a better position to win and I thought he did those.”
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