‘I’ve got to be better’: Why Jaylen Brown blamed himself after Celtics’ loss to Pistons

Jaylen Brown led all Celtics players in points rebounds assists and blocks during Monday night s matchup with the Detroit Pistons But after Boston was unable to secure a accomplishment over the No squad in the Eastern Conference Brown pointed the finger at himself We ve got to be better I ve got to be better the Celtics star noted after his crew lost - at TD Garden I wasn t good enough for my band so that s on me Brown who s played his way into the NBA MVP conversation with a stellar start to the season totaled points eight boards seven assists and three blocks in a losing effort He also collected four of the Celtics seven offensive rebounds and would have finished with a higher assist total had his group not shot from -point range In the final five minutes Brown hit a -pointer and blocked two shots to help Boston cut a nine-point deficit to two But he also had a turnover a shooting foul and majority consequentially two missed free throws during that closing stretch I ve got to do better to get my band over the hump Brown noted In my mind I didn t have my best match tonight so that s on me Solicited why he was critical of his performance Brown pointed to poor execution on a inadequate mindset plays that hurt the Celtics especially in the fourth quarter Staying down on the shot fake he revealed I had a turnover in the fourth and then just too countless missed free throws Just mentality-wise mindset-wise I needed to be more for my company I wasn t tonight Foul shooting was Brown s biggest issue in the loss He misfired on half of his attempts from the line tying his single-game career high with seven missed free throws The two he missed with remaining would have made it - Pistons Instead Cade Cunningham scored what proved to be the game-winning jumper on the ensuing possession I think my company did enough Brown stated I ve got to be better down the stretch We ve got to be better down the stretch It was definitely a challenge that got away from us that got away from me We ll watch the film and be ready for the next one Derrick White filled Brown s scoring void late providing all of the Celtics points in the final four-plus minutes of regulation and scoring of his season-high in the fourth quarter But the veteran guard also committed a costly late-game error losing possession with a minute remaining and Boston down four He and Brown each had four turnovers in the battle White voiced his help for Brown postgame saying he was not to blame for the loss I think that s kind of what makes him special White announced He had -something and still wants to do better for us and so that s what makes him special He s possibly his toughest critic and we know that he s going to bounce back and continue to do special things for us And so obviously this loss isn t on him it s on all of us and we ve got his back but that s just kind of the guy he is in this and why we love playing with him Brown Boston s No option while Jayson Tatum recovers from Achilles surgery has scored at least points in eight of his last nine games NBA com s latest MVP Ladder rankings published last Friday placed him fifth behind Nikola Jokic Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Luka Doncic and Cunningham