Boston Celtics
“It was cold, and it was early, and it felt like the whole city was drunk.”
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown felt snubbed after not being named Eastern Conference Player of the Month. “Any given night I can take over a game, defensively, and take over a game, offensively,” he said. Tyler Tate/AP Photo
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Jaylen Brown has been in Boston for a decade, but he had never made it over to South Boston for the St. Patrick’s Day parade until this past weekend.
The Celtics star streamed the experience on Twitch, showing himself partying on a float. He caught a football, hit some dance moves, and waved to fans.
After the Celtics beat the Suns Monday night, Brown joked that he may have enjoyed the chants from the parade crowd as much as the MVP chants he got TD Garden for scoring 41 points.
“It’s pretty cool, I’m not going to lie,” Brown said. “It’s pretty awesome at this point of my career to get that love from the fans. It was pretty cool too, I was in Southie yesterday during the day and I got some MVP chants as well in Southie. I think that might have been a little cooler.”
Brown has experience with Boston parades. He was MVP of the 2024 NBA Finals, and he clutched the Larry O’Brien trophy whole riding a duck boat during the Celtics championship parade two years ago.
Brown said he wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he arrived in South Boston, but he enjoyed his time.
“It was fun. That was my first time going to St. Patrick’s Day,” Brown said. “I didn’t know it was like a big thing. It felt like there was like a million people out there. It was a lot of people out there. It was cold, and it was early, and it felt like the whole city was drunk, but I had a good time just to go out and say hello to the people of Boston and things like that.”
“Also, I have some Irish in my blood as well, so it just made it more surreal. It was pretty cool.”
Brown is enjoying a career-year, averaging 28.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. He steered the Celtics through the bulk of the regular season while Jayson Tatum was rehabbing from an Achilles’ injury.
Together, they are gearing up for another playoff run with the Celtics clinging onto second-place in the Eastern Conference.
As the regular season enters its final stages, Brown took a moment to reflect on how much fun he is having. He helped put the Celtics in a spot that many doubted they would be in, and he’s taking time to interact with fans off the court along the way.
“It’s been a great year. I’m extremely grateful,” Brown said. “All praise to the most high. Just the approach from the beginning of the summer to where we’re at now, I’m proud of my team, proud of myself, all of the above.”
“I felt like I could always be one of the top players in the world if given the opportunity and I feel like I got to display that this season. Now the focus is to get ready for the playoffs. It’s kind of like my mentality now, to stay healthy, but I’ve had a great year.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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