Jaylen Brown: I think Jayson Tatum and I are probably the best two-way players in the league

The NBA’s Eastern Conference is loaded. The Celtics are living their best lives in first place. What’s the biggest difference between last season and this season for the Celtics? Jaylen Brown: Experience. Chemistry. Camaraderie. And we’ve been able to figure a lot of stuff out and we’re STILL growing. (Last season) we were younger. I was a year younger; JT was a year younger … so now going through that season last year that was magical, we’re a year older and now we see things a little differently with different eyes. We see the game a little bit more now, and we started out the season great. So now we just have to keep it up. -via Bally Sports / December 7, 2022

Last question. LeBron James was critical of the media about the lack of criticism for Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after a photo of Jones surfaced of him standing among a group of white students at North Little Rock high school in Arkansas on Sept. 9, 1957. How did you feel about LeBron sharing that the critique of Jones was not as harsh as the recent controversy surrounding Kyrie Irving? Jaylen Brown: I’ve seen LeBron’s comments, and I think it should be looked at. I think he made some good points, and I think that people should pay attention and chime in. And he had an opinion against it before. I think those conversations need to be had. -via Bally Sports / December 7, 2022

In the midst of another tumultuous season, Kyrie Irving did speak with the media after Sunday’s 103-92 loss to the Celtics, offering short responses about the Boston rivalry. But he did open up about his relationship with Jaylen Brown, one of his biggest defenders during a suspension and controversy sparked by posting a movie with antisemitic tropes on his Twitter page. “He’s a brother of mine,” Irving said. “I’m grateful to have a relationship off the court. True warriors when we go against each other. When I was in Boston, we didn’t really get a chance to get to know each other on a deeper level. So again, I’m just grateful that we’ve been able to build on top of a great foundation of relying on how we live our lives and how we treat people, so he’s a brother of mine.” -via Boston Globe / December 5, 2022

HoopsHype: Jayson Tatum: “I’m just glad we won. Nine turnovers? That’s ridiculous. And some of them, I was just throwing that s*** out of bounds. The ball was kind of slippery. The one I thew to Al to the corner and he shot it.. that s*** went to the air. But I mean there’s no excuse.” pic.twitter.com/Plgv6nmaCC -via Twitter @hoopshype / December 5, 2022

The Celtics took their first lead of the game after White found Brown for a triple from the corner. One possession later, he forced a Brooklyn timeout with another 3-pointer to put the Celtics ahead 16-11. Brown went on to finish the first quarter with 20 points on 6-for-7 shooting, including perfect 5-for-5 shooting from behind the arc. He scored 14 more points the rest of the way to lead a Celtics team that wasn’t thrilled with its play. “We talked about it in the locker room that it’s going to be tough,” said Tatum. “We’re going to get teams’ best shot. We’ve kind of in a sense got a target on our back. But for us to get to where we want to, we’ve gotta play better than we did tonight. Granted we still won, but we can play a lot better.” -via The Athletic / December 5, 2022