Celtics wing Jaylen Brown was named the Most Valuable Player of the Eastern Conference Finals, winning the Larry Bird trophy for 2024, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
Brown narrowly edged out teammate Jayson Tatum, who earned four of nine votes from media members for the honor at the conclusion of Boston’s 4-0 sweep over the Pacers. Brown received the other five votes (Twitter link).
“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Brown said of the award, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I don’t ever win s–t. I was just happy we won.”
Brown scored at least 24 points in all four games of the series, including 40 in last Thursday’s Game 2 win and 29 in Monday’s close-out victory. He averaged 29.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals in 40.9 minutes per game vs. Indiana, making 51.7% of his shot attempts from the field, including 37.0% of his three-pointers.
“He was unreal this whole series, a complete player on both sides of the ball that you don’t really see much these days,” teammate Derrick White said, according to Vardon.
The NBA instituted MVP awards for the conference finals just three years ago, naming the trophies after Bird in the East and Magic Johnson in the West. Tatum was the first ever Eastern Conference Finals MVP in 2022, while Heat star Jimmy Butler took home the honor last spring.
“I don’t ever win shit” quote of the year
Considering that winning an All-NBA spot is the reason he’s currently the highest-paid player in NBA history, it’s also kind of genre blind.
Dude is just having fun and messing around.
It amazes me that people pick apart off-the-cuff comments athletes make.
Who cares?
Fair. After all the whining from guys like Embiid and Haliburton on potentially missing out on awards, I think I’m pre-conditioned to assume that similar comments are whining too.
Every player whines like you about joel emvp Every chance you get.
Coming from a Philly troll, I outright take that as a compliment, lmao.
Self proclaiming yourself a “troll” is very sad imo
He’s winning big time. $300 million contract.
He should be happy not about that, right?
Means nothing
I think Brown might be a better player than Tatum now. Brown has grown and improved tremendously on both sides of the floor while Tatum still looks the same and has the same flaws of disappearing effort/focus
Tatum busts it on D all game and is averaging 10 boards and 6 assists. Saying Tatum lacks effort is just silly.
Questioning Tatum’s effort is nuts. No.
Their styles of play are a little different. It’s not like they can’t do the things that aren’t their greatest strengths. JB is an explosive monster penetrating the paint, either as a scorer or driving to create space for his shooters; doesn’t mean he can’t ball handle / perimeter shoot *at all*. Tatum’s handle and footwork is elite – he can shot create in ISO and he’s absolutely shown growth as a facilitator on offense. He’s doing lots of things that don’t register in the box score. That doesn’t mean he can’t drive *at all*. JB hits a three every night, Tatum drives through a double team for a high difficulty layup and one every night. It’s not really comparing apples to apples because they aren’t symmetrical styles. Lucky to have both; much, much less likely to win without one.
Yea but many believe Tatum has another gear left as he matures. His age an potential are tantalizing, but again he needs maturity / balance of emotions. Him and Luka should be the face of the NBA (East/West)
Tatum is way too boring to be face of the league. If he beat GS a couple years ago then maybe. But “face of the league” (still think the term is ridiculous) has much less to do with on court achievements than it does with marketable personalities.
Who gaf if he’s “face of the league”?
It’s arguably better for the league to have several “faces of the league” – that’s more premium matchups and more players/teams that register in the non-NBA national consciousness. I don’t really understand how one could argue Tatum is “the” face of the league, but e.g. Jokic or Luka isn’t. Team USA and the postseason are great platforms that illustrate this and grow interest in the sport.
Brown did play very well this series, so the honor is well-deserved.
That being said, the slap he delivered to TJ McConnell would make Will Smith jealous. It’s a crime that didn’t even warrant a flagrant…
You’re right it didn’t warrant a flagrant
Did you miss PP getting kicked in the face? There wasn’t malicious intent on either play – playoffs are more physical, naturally.
Well deserved, he’s an accomplished player with integrity and accountability. This reward will play heavily in his constant development!