Jaylen Brown Makes Declaration Following Lopsided Celtics Win Vs. Mavs

The Boston Celtics entered Saturday evening’s NBA Finals rematch against the Dallas Mavericks working their way out of a rut.

Boston had gone 5-5 in its prior 10 games, dropping shoo-in matchups to teams like the (shorthanded) Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans and 32-loss Toronto Raptors throughout the stretch. For the first time since the welcoming of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, the C’s were truly tested, cornered and due for a momentum-shifting response.

Saturday’s 122-107 blowout victory in Dallas was a positive indication of that, and nothing more until further notice. Boston hasn’t undergone a winning streak longer than three games since November and holds just a two-game lead over the No. 3 seeded New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings.

Jaylen Brown, however, spoke with confidence and certainty, like a clairvoyant, when vocalizing what’s next for the Celtics moving forward.

“It’s coming. It’s coming,” Brown told reporters, per ESPN’s Tim McMahon. “You just keep working. It’s coming. You got to keep fighting if you want to be what you say you want to be, got to be tested and you got to pass those tests and be worthy of it. It’s been hard. Shots are not going in. It’s looked a little bit ugly at times. Our offense has been a little bit (off). The energy hasn’t been flowing the way it’s used to, but that’s all right.”

Brown continued: “Just keep your mind, you keep your spirit lifted, you keep your teammates’ spirit lifted and you come out and you play basketball, the tide will turn.”

The Mavericks certainly aren’t a cream-of-the-crop opponent by any measure. Boston’s ex-Finals foe tumbled to the ninth seed in the Western Conference at 24-22, leaving alternate team governor Mark Cuban face-palming in disappointment night in and night out. Still, the Celtics did their job.

Boston served Dallas a beatdown reminiscent of their five-game series last June, which allowed the Celtics to raise a banner on Opening Night.

Jayson Tatum and Brown combined to score 46 points, Derrick White ascended amid a rough stretch of his own with 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting and Boston quickly dusted off an early 16-6 deficit in the first quarter. The Luka Doncic-less Mavericks, on the other hand, had nothing for Joe Mazzulla’s hungry C’s.

The reigning champions were due for a performance that could remind themselves and the league of who they were last season. Sure, the Celtics won’t set the all-time regular-season wins record or surpass last season’s 64 victories. But that doesn’t matter. Boston has been defeated 14 times, so far, and has followed up 13 of those losses with a win — re-establishing its resilience and bounce-back attitude.

It’s better to shrug off the rough patches before the All-Star break rather than collide with a cold streak entering the playoffs in the coming months.

For now, the Celtics have a foundation to build off their four-game road trip. This wouldn’t be the first time Brown’s senses indicated an energy-shifting run on the horizon for Boston anyways.