Jaylen Brown just played the Celtic’s biggest game of the season so far with a heavy heart.
After a 92-88 win over the Warriors where he scored 22 points, Brown told reporters that his best friend passed away the night before the game:
“My best friend passed away last night … It was tough, to kind of accept it at first — I was kind of in shock. Coming here today, they wanted to me play. It was hard to get my thoughts together, but after talking to his mom and his family they inspired me to come out and play. I wasn’t in any shape to come out. I didn’t want to leave my room. But they inspired me to come out and play, and I came out and played in his spirit.”
Brown said he had known his friend Trevin Steede since high school:
That’s rough, man. There’s really no other way to describe that. It’s hard to do anything after losing someone important to you — let alone your best friend. Our condolences go out to Brown, Steede, and their families.
His teammates have his back, too. Kyrie Irving said the team gave Brown the game ball after his big performance:
“It’s never a good thing when someone is going through it. You do your best to console them, to encourage them,” Irving said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about the strength within themselves. And he showed a lot of that tonight.”
Some things are bigger than basketball, and life itself is one of them. Brown’s strength to come out and play what may have been his best game of the season is incredible.
