Jaylen Brown reveals Celtics’ successful ‘boring’ strategy after defeating Lakers

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Jaylen Brown reveals Celtics’ successful ‘boring’ strategy after defeating Lakers

Daniel Donabedian, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Sat, Dec 6, 2025 ·

4 min read

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The post Jaylen Brown reveals Celtics' successful 'boring' strategy after defeating Lakers appeared first on ClutchPoints .

BOSTON — Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown knows what goes into winning. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP has won at the highest level and has never missed the playoffs in his 10-year career. With all of this experience, he understands that winning can feature everything from clutch buckets that'll make highlight reels to effort plays that are more about consistency than flash.

Despite the media buzz that typically surrounds a meeting between the Celtics and their rival, the Los Angeles Lakers , Friday night's showdown between the two historic franchises was far from memorable. Brown doesn't mind, though, as the 126-105 blowout victory gave his squad their fourth straight win and laid another building block in the winning foundation the 2025-26 Celtics are trying to build .

"Just another game," Brown said following the wire-to-wire win.

Part of the reason the draw for this marquee matchup decreased was the absence of stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James, who were out due to personal reasons and a left foot injury, respectively. Celtics star Jayson Tatum was also out , as expected, given the Achilles rupture he suffered in May, and former Celtics veteran Marcus Smart couldn't even suit up for the purple and gold because of a lingering back injury .

All of these factors lowered the expectations for this primetime game. However, none of that changed Brown's approach.

"It's an honor to compete against those guys, but my job is to go out there and help my team get wins," Brown replied when asked about the Lakers' multitude of pregame scratches.

As for Tatum's absence, that didn't shift Brown's focus either . From when the Celtics started the season 0-3 to their current four-game winning streak , Brown has kept his expectations consistent.

"I think the expectation level is always the same, in my brain," he said. "You know, just come out and compete and maximize our potential and kind of go from there. Don't focus on the end result."

This unchanging mentality has perhaps helped the four-time All-Star reach a new level of dependability during the 2025-26 campaign. He posted 30 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists against the Lakers, marking the 12th time this season Brown has scored at least 30 points. He only had nine games of 30 points or more all of last season.

"Focus on what you control and what's in front of you, and that's winning each possession, being the harder playing team, all that good stuff," Brown said. "Sounds boring, but that's the type of stuff that leads to building a really good team."

From the outside looking in, maybe the Celtics do have a more "boring" team than in previous years. They're down Tatum, are missing multiple starters from last season, and are largely relying on young, lesser-known players to step up.

That means the Celtics have had to focus on the margins more than ever to succeed, using an incredibly low turnover rate and impressive offensive rebounding numbers to overcome more talented opponents.

Friday night's Lakers lacked talent and heart, so Brown and company took care of business. It's not a flashy win that'll circulate on SportsCenter all day, but it will continue to steer the 14-9 C's in the right direction.

"We've been getting better every single day, and it's coming together a little bit now," Brown said. "But we still got a lot of work to do."

The Celtics' work continues on Sunday afternoon against the 15-9 Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.

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