Nov. 16, 2017 should have been a good day for Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. After all, he’s a starter on the team with the best record in the NBA, and he had just scored 22 points, propelling his team to a victory over the Golden State Warriors. Brown almost didn’t play in that game, though, and not because of an injury. Well, not a physical one, anyway.
Brown had just learned that his best friend, Trevin Steede, had passed away.
He expatiated on what he was feeling to MassLive’s Jay King.
Brown talked about first meeting Steede, how, after transferring to a new school and not knowing anybody, Steede was the one who welcomed him, despite the fact that Brown was essentially there to take Steede’s role on the basketball team.
Brown was, of course, shocked by the news of Steede’s death:
“I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it,” Brown said. “I couldn’t get my thoughts together, I couldn’t gather myself.”
…
“It was tough to kind of accept it,” said Brown. “Everybody was kind of in shock.”
Brown almost decided against playing but decided to suit up after speaking with Steede’s family.
Brown definitely had Steede on his mind while he was playing.
Jaylen Brown has a look in his eyes right now that I have never seen before and I'm not kidding one bit.
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) November 17, 2017
He described his experience playing:
“To be honest, it just felt like nothing,” he said. “Like, I just felt like I was out there playing. Like I didn’t know who was out there. I just felt like it was just me and him. And I was just out there playing. And I wasn’t thinking. I was just getting up and down the floor and we (pulled) it out. My teammates helped me out, picked me up. They knew I was down. They knew that basketball’s my escape. I wanted to play. His family inspired me to play. And we pulled it out.”
