When Boston Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell read off Jaylen Brown’s name as the winner of the Larry Bird Trophy as Eastern Conference finals MVP, no one seemed more surprised than Brown himself.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Brown said, with the trophy sitting next to him at the podium after Boston’s series-ending 105-102 Game 4 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, before adding with a broad smile, “I don’t never win s—..
But it was Brown who made a pair of plays in the final 65 seconds — first blocking Andrew Nembhard’s drive to the rim, then getting into the lane and kicking the ball out to Derrick White for what became the winning 3-pointer with 41 seconds to go, a shot that put Boston ahead for the first time since the opening possession of the second half — that allowed the Celtics to escape from this series with a sweep and return to the NBA Finals for a second time in three years.
“I’m just happy that we won,” Brown continued. “And give credit to Indiana, they played us tough. I know people think that Indiana wasn’t a good team or whatever the case may be, but I thought they were as tough as anybody we played all season. They were physical, they were fast, they put a lot of pressure on us. So shout out to them, and respect to them.”
The Pacers, playing for a second straight game without All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton, certainly gave Boston all it could handle.
As a result, the Celtics — who had advanced to five Eastern Conference finals in seven years before this one, reaching the NBA Finals just once — are now back in the league’s championship round yet again. And that is in part because of the growth of Brown and Tatum, their two stars who have seen this team go through so many rough moments in the playoffs over the past several years, only to put together a 12-2 run through the East that will have this team as fresh and ready for the Finals as it possibly could be.
