Jaylen Brown sends measured message on come-from-behind Boston Celtics loss to Cavs

Jaylen Brown acknowledged that the Boston Celtics lost their focus during a come-from-behind loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on March 5, crediting the team's lackluster second-half effort for the "mentality loss."

“We are a much better team than we showed today, and today was just a mentality loss, I think,” Brown said (h/t MassLive). “We had the game and then we got comfortable, so it was more of a mindset thing than Xs-and-Os. We gotta just be the more disciplined, the more militant team to be focused. We weren’t that — usually we are that — and we felt that today and I think that’s the reason why they were able to get back into the game, because our mindset was a little bit too lax and we were too careless with the ball.

“You put yourself in that spot when you don’t put a team away, don’t match the gas,” Brown said. “We should’ve matched the gas when we was up 22. We kind of let them hang around, it was cool, and comfort will kill you. And I think we needed that. I think that’s good, that keeps us on our toes and keeps us being able to learn and move forward.”

“You put yourself in that spot when you don’t put a team away, don’t match the gas. We should’ve matched the gas when we was up 22. We kind of let them hang around, it was cool, and comfort will kill you. And I think we needed that. I think that’s good, that keeps us on our toes and keeps us being able to learn and move forward.”

This loss had everything (Bill Hader's Stefon voice): a blown 22-point Boston lead, clock-killing direction-less second-half Celtics possessions, and a Dean Wade 5/5 3-point showing in the fourth quarter. 71 points from Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis didn't go far enough in the unfathomable failure in The Land.

Boston Celtics cannot go cold in March after historic season

One loss, at least in the fashion of March 5's failure, is a big deal to Celtics fans given how swimmingly most of the 2023-24 season has gone. If it's a one-off, and Boston beats the brakes off the Denver Nuggets on March 7, no worries.

But if the Celtics go cold at the worst possible time, right before the postseason, the pain the fanbase will experience will dwarf any other season in the "Jays" era.