The Boston Celtics won their 14th consecutive game on Thursday night, defeating current NBA champions Golden State Warriors at the TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown was one of the Celtics' star players, scoring a team-high 22 points.
Brown battled personal tragedy to play in the game. Just a day previous, he discovered that his best friend, Trevin Steede, had died.
Jaylen Brown turns defense into offense and jumps into tonight's @JetBlue Play of the Game! pic.twitter.com/480NZY8bEa
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 17, 2017
Speaking to reporters following last night's game, Brown said that initially, he did not want to play in the game. However, Trevin's family encouraged him to do so.
"My best friend passed last night. It was tough to kind of accept it. Everybody was kind of in shock. But I knew coming into today that he would have wanted me to play. It was hard getting 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 today. My teammates held me up and we pulled it out."
That one was for you bro !! #RIP pic.twitter.com/Rnvy54Wsh2
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) November 17, 2017
The 21-year-old, who is in his second year in the NBA, explained how he and Trevin became best friends.
[Trevin] tells this story all the time: I transferred schools to play basketball at Wheeler High School. He was already there. And they transferred me in. Ultimately, I was probably taking his spot, but I remember I didn't have any friends sitting at the lunch table. The first few days I sat by myself and acted like I'm too cool, I didn't need anybody. You know what I mean? Like, I'm an introvert. I'll be all right.
And he walked up to me on the third or fourth day and asked me who I was sitting with, even though I wasn't sitting with anybody. And then he told me to come over and sit with him. And ever since then we've been best friends. For him to do that even though the circumstances, ever since then that's been my brother, you know?
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after the game that it had been a special performance from Brown.
It is the second time this year that the Celtics have found themselves in such circumstances. Former Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas played in a playoff game against the Chicago Bulls earlier this year shortly after the death of his sister.
You can watch Jaylen Brown speaking to reporters below.
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