Jaylen Brown Is Turning Doubt Into Dominance - And the Celtics Are Thriving Because of It
BOSTON - At this point, questioning Jaylen Brown feels like a fool’s errand. Ten seasons into his NBA career, the Celtics star has built a résumé that includes five All-Star nods, an NBA championship, and a Finals MVP. He’s playing the best basketball of his life, and with Boston sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, he’s not just silencing the doubters - he’s using their voices as fuel.
“I take everything personally, lowkey,” Brown said after Boston’s 102-94 win over the Trail Blazers on Monday night. “I'm always looking for something.”
That chip on his shoulder? It’s not new. But this year, it’s sharper than ever.
With Jayson Tatum sidelined indefinitely due to a ruptured Achilles and a roster that shed key veterans like Jrue Holiday in the offseason, some critics didn’t just question the Celtics - they wrote them off. There were whispers about tanking, talk of a “gap year,” and projections that had Boston finishing around .500.
But Brown didn’t buy into any of it. Neither did Holiday, who returned to TD Garden as a visitor on Monday and made it clear he never doubted what his former teammate could do when given the keys to the offense.
“I figured that they'd be good,” Holiday said. “And then obviously, knowing Jaylen, I feel like he takes a lot of things personally. So he doesn't accept a lot, especially when it comes to being bad.”
Brown responded with a complete performance: 20 points, a team-high eight rebounds, four assists, and a game-high four steals. It was a wire-to-wire win, and it wasn’t just Brown doing the heavy lifting. Payton Pritchard poured in a game-high 23 points on 50% shooting and didn’t commit a single turnover in a game that saw both teams combine for 35.
Holiday, watching from the other side, saw the fire that’s been fueling this Celtics team all season.
“I think people counted them out as a team,” he said. “Not just Jaylen. I know Payton, Joe (Mazzulla), the whole coaching staff - when people say they can’t do something, they want to prove them wrong.”
That mindset has become a rallying cry. Pritchard, another player with something to prove, echoed the sentiment in the locker room.
“I feel like it definitely motivated a lot of us,” he said. “To hear people say this is going to be a gap year because we traded away a lot of players and JT being out… definitely was a motivation.”
The Celtics weren’t supposed to be here - not according to the preseason projections. BetMGM had them pegged for around 41 wins.
But after Monday’s victory, they’re sitting at 29-17. That means they need just 13 more wins in their final 36 games to blow past those expectations.
So what did the oddsmakers miss? Maybe they focused too much on what Boston lost and not enough on what they gained - not in terms of personnel, but in identity.
Jaylen Brown on if he took the preseason doubters personally:
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 27, 2026
“I take everything personal, lowkey.”
“I've sacrificed over the years in order for us to be a championship-caliber team. And I think now we're getting to see that a little bit, what exactly I was capable of.” pic.twitter.com/gm0ra6oUzU
This version of the Celtics belongs to Jaylen Brown. And he’s thriving in the role.
Brown is averaging nearly 30 points per game - a full three-point jump from his previous career high - while shooting over 48% from the field. He’s also dishing out a career-best 4.9 assists per game and operating with the highest usage rate of his career. Simply put, he’s doing more, and doing it more efficiently.
Jrue Holiday on Jaylen Brown, and the rest of the Celtics, handling the doubt they faced this season personally:
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 27, 2026
“Obviously, knowing Jaylen I feel like he takes a lot of things personally, so he doesn't accept a lot, especially when it comes to being bad.” pic.twitter.com/jUV3pq7nmt
“I feel like I’ve sacrificed over the years in order for us to be a championship-caliber team,” Brown said. “I think we’re getting to see what exactly I was capable of and what I was sacrificing. I think before maybe it wasn’t so obvious.”
Now, it’s impossible to ignore. The Celtics are once again the No. 2 seed in the East - the same spot they finished last season - despite losing four or five key contributors. The drop-off many predicted never came.
That doesn’t mean it’s been smooth sailing. Boston opened the season 0-3, their worst start in over a decade.
And when the losses stacked up early, so did the noise. Brown heard it all.
“We started off the season 0-3, we had all types of people posting all types of bull***t,” Brown said during a December Twitch stream. “Tell them to post now… Tell them to keep that same energy.”
That’s the thing about Brown - he doesn’t have to invent slights. They’re out there, on social media, in the betting lines, in the conversations about who’s elite and who’s expendable. He sees it, absorbs it, and turns it into fuel.
Whether it’s not being named Eastern Conference Player of the Month or having his leadership questioned without Tatum on the floor, Brown has used every slight - real or perceived - to elevate his game. But more than anything, it’s his unwavering self-belief that’s driving him.
“We started off the season 0-3, they was posting all type of bullshit. Tell them to post now… keep that same energy.”
— jb (@lockedupjb) December 6, 2025
— Jaylen Brownpic.twitter.com/bUPecEXmVv
“I've always believed in myself and believed that I was one of the best players in this league, and I got the opportunity to show it,” he said.
Right now, Jaylen Brown isn’t just showing it - he’s proving it. And the Celtics, once written off, are right back in the thick of the title hunt because of it.