Will Jaylen Brown use the rejection of the All-NBA nomination as additional motivation for the playoffs? – NBC Sports Boston

Despite Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown delivering the most efficient two-way season of his eight-year career for a team that was outrunning the rest of the NBA, he did not earn any postseason hardware for his 2023-24 season.

Just hours after being denied a spot on the All-Defense team, Brown forced a turnover in the final period that saved the Celtics from a loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Just hours after hitting the most significant shot of his career, a three-pointer that forced overtime in Game 1, Brown was kicked off the 15-man All-NBA team.

The only real question isn't whether Brown, an All-NBA second-teamer a year ago, deserves greater consideration for either award. Will he take out any frustrations on opponents for the remainder of Boston's stay in the 2024 playoffs?

Brown's inclusion on the All-Defense team was a definite possibility, even though his teammate Al Horford was adamant that Brown deserved a spot on the squad. Still, Brown routinely accepted the challenge of defending the opposing team's leading scorer and delivered his most consistent defensive season. He was an afterthought in the vote.

The fact that he wasn't named to the All-NBA team is even worse. Brown was a key part of Boston's regular-season dominance, in which the Celtics outscored every Eastern Conference team by more than 14 games and every other team in the league by more than seven games.

Boston finished 15 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns and 17 games ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams placed two players on the All-NBA squads, including Suns guard Devin Booker, who finished last in the media vote.

Brown was the first man eliminated, scoring a total of 50 points while landing on about half of the 99 total ballots cast (all third-place votes). Booker appeared on 56 ballots, including seven second-team nods, helping him score 70 total points. The Suns were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

When Brown takes the field Thursday night for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, he will look across the field and see Tyrese Haliburton, who earned another spot on the third team that had eluded Brown.

The rejection is all the more baffling considering how much Brown improved his game last season. Despite signing the most lucrative contract extension in NBA history, Brown has increased his efficiency, reducing the turnovers that marred his game last season and making a point of consistently finishing with his left hand, which had sometimes become a punchline.

Brown's scoring dropped with Boston's influx of talent, but his efficiency increased. He shot a career-best 49.9 percent from the floor and his 3-point shooting returned to near his career average (35.4 percent this year, up 1.9 percent from 2022-23). ​​Brown's rebounding dropped, but that's what happens when you add a 7-foot-3 center to the roster.