NBA: Brown:”Inspired” after the death of his best friend

Just a few hours before the top game against the Golden State Warriors, Jaylen Brown learned of the death of his best friend, the Boston Celtics. The 21-year-old then showed one of the best games of his young career and led Celtics to the 14th place. Victory in a row.

Brown scored 22 points in Celtics’ narrow 92:88 win and helped his team make several comebacks. On Thursday he told Celtics coach Brad Stevens that he was not sure if he could play at all. He had only learned in the course of the day that his childhood friend Trevin Steele had died in Atlanta for an unknown reason.

“My best friend died last night. It’s pretty hard to accept,”Brown said after the game.”We were all shocked. I knew he wanted me to play today. It was really hard to sort my thoughts out, but when I spoke with his mother and family, they inspired me to play today.”

“I wasn’t able to play at all. I didn’t want to leave my room. But they inspired me,”Brown continued,”and that’s why I came out and played in his memory. My team supported me and we actually managed to win.”

After the game Brown posted a picture of him and Steele on Twitter and dedicated the victory to him. This was also supported by Kyrie Irving, who pressed the game ball into his hand immediately after the game:”Ky gave me the ball and said:’ This was for Trevin.’ That meant a lot to me,’ Brown said.

Irving was then as impressed as the rest of the team by Brown’s mental strength,”I tried talking to him before. I too have lost important people in my life. But you can only try to help, at the end of the day it’s all about the strength that someone carries within you to deal with something like this,”Irving said,”He showed it today. I was impressed by his ability to show such an achievement. It was clear who would get the game ball.”