After James Harden erupted for 45-points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Jaylen Brown elected to take on the challenge of defending Harden, which has resulted in Brown being the leader of the Celtics in the playoffs.

Brown finished the night with 23-points, seven rebounds, and five assists in 34 minutes on the court in Game 3. He uncharacteristically didn’t make any of his four 3-point shot attempts, but still ended the night shooting 57 percent from the floor.

On Saturday morning during shootaround, Al Horford said as much, that Brown is leading the Celtics and they’re all following him.

“We are following him, not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end as well. He’s playing at a very high level right now.”

Brown is averaging 23.6 points per game in the Eastern Conference Semifinals while playing elite defense on one of the NBA’s all-time great scorers in Harden.

Game 4 is on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 PM.

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