Joe Mazzulla hailed Jaylen Brown's defensive work after the Boston Celtics fended off the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. (More Sports News)
The Celtics made it five straight wins as they triumphed 107-105, with Brown playing a key role at both ends of the court.
Brown finished with 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, while he also made a vital intervention to deny Anthony Edwards, who finished with 28 points for Minnesota, the chance to send the game to overtime with just seven seconds left on the clock.
"It's great to have a player of his calibre take defense to another level and take matchups personally," said Mazzulla.
"When your best players are the best defenders it sets a tone for your team and your locker room defensively. He takes pride in individual matchups, and I thought he did a great job of that tonight."
As reported by CLNS Media, Brown reflected: "He's good going to his left hand, but I just wanted to crowd him a little bit, make it tough for him, and waste some time.
"If he did go up to score, I was going to be able to challenge him at the rim.
"I think it was a good defensive possession."
Brown became the second-quickest player in the play-by-play era to sink five 3-pointers in a game, doing so after just three minutes and 34 seconds.
"I feel like I haven't shot the ball to start off the season as well as I would have liked," Brown said. "I feel like I'm due for a lot of makes."
Brown was backed up offensively by Jayson Tatum's 26 points, while Derrick White added 19 as the Celtics improved to 14-3 for the season.
