Jaylen Brown is not happy with who ended the Boston Celtics' season.
The New York Knicks convincingly eliminated the Celtics from the playoffs with a 119-81 victory in Friday's Game 6. Brown saw this as a less-than-desired result, but he's hoping to grow from a loss like this.
"Losing to the Knicks feels like death," Brown said, according to The Athletic's Jay King. "But I was always taught that there's life after death."
Brown scored 20 points in the season-ending contest but fouled out in the third quarter. Boston was also without Jayson Tatum who suffered a ruptured Achilles in Game 4.
Brown put the elimination simply: "It just wasn't our year."
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla knew failing was a possibility when his team set out to win a second consecutive NBA championship.
"There's a perspective at the end of the day, we set a goal out, we didn't achieve that goal," Mazzulla said. "But (that) shouldn't take away from the mindset and the effort that the players put in. We have a responsibility and an ownership, we didn't do it, but the approach, the process to it, you can't ask for any more from the guys. ... This is the price you pay for trying to go after something, and that's how it goes."
Even without the same result as last year, Mazzulla believes he saw improvements from his team.
"I didn't see anything different," Mazzulla said, according to Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell. "I saw something better throughout the season. Everybody had the right mindset and the right process towards going after it. We just ran into a great team in the second round. They got the best of us."
Brown also offered some words of encouragement for the Celtics' faithful despite Friday's result.
"I know, Boston, it looks gloomy right now, obviously with JT being down, and us ending the year, but it's a lot to look forward to," Brown said. "I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end."
