In order to be the best, you gotta beat the best, and no one understands that better than Jaylen Brown. On Thursday, reporter Brian Robb relayed that during halftime of the Celtics’ Summer League game, Brown spoke on LeBron James’s decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers, and leave the Eastern Conference. The 21-year-old admitted that he wanted James to stay in the East so that "we could try to go through him."
Now that James is with the Lakers, the East is more wide open. However, the Celtics may be the favorites to represent their conference in the Finals, regardless of the health of their superstar duo of Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. Brown’s comment could also suggest that he wanted to avenge his team’s loss to James and the Cavs in the Conference Finals this past season. Without Hayward and Kyrie, Boston fell to LeBron in Game 7 on their home court. The defeat was a learning experience, but Jaylen was probably confident that they would be able to pull out the victory if the opportunity presented itself again.
While there are still a few formidable opponents remaining in the East, Brown seemingly wanted the challenge that comes with trying to go through a LeBron-led team. But have no fear. They will be challenged plenty by whichever team comes out of the Wild Wild Western Conference, if they make it to the Finals, that is.
