The Boston Celtics played one of their best games of the season on Friday night. They dismantled the Indiana Pacers 142-105. It was a game that wasn’t close at any point. They shot 51 percent from the field and just ran away from the Pacers after Indiana was on the second night of a back-to-back.

One of the biggest reasons that the Celtics were able to win the game is because of Jaylen Brown. He had a career-high 44 points on 16-24 shooting. He made six of his eleven 3-point attempts as well. There was no one on the Pacers who could defend him.

Brown was also the player who killed the Pacers the most in the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago. That’s why he won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. That’s what started a lot of debate about whether or not he was the better player than Jayson Tatum on the Celtics.

Following the game against the Pacers, Brown wanted to point to how good of defense he played as opposed to his scoring. He thinks he’s one of the better defenders in the league and he should get credit for that. Brown spoke on that immediately after his career-high scoring outburst.

“People don’t pay enough attention to it,” Brown said of the general underappreciation for defense. “But I feel like I’m one of the best two-way players in the world. I try to hang my hat on that side by doing different assignments, like picking up guys full court, chasing guys off screens, switching onto bigs. That takes a lot of energy.”

While Brown gets lauded as a good scorer, and he showed that against the Pacers, he thinks he should get more credit for being able to defend at an elite level. He wants to be known as one of the best two-way players in the NBA instead of just an offensive force.

When Brown first got into the league, that’s how he made an impact. He was a solid defender who got his minutes because of his length on the perimeter as a defender. Brown typically defends the best player on the opposing team because of that length.

The Celtics play another game against the Pacers on Sunday night. They should expect Indiana to play a much tougher game than what they were able to muster on short rest on Friday.