Why Jaylen Brown's comments about media pressure are concerning

The Boston Celtics will likely go an entire season without reporters in their locker room. Due to an abundance of caution, writers are barred from practice and pre-game shootarounds. The only regular interactions between players and beat people occur over Zoom, under the watchful eye of public relations professionals.

And yet, Jaylen Brown is citing media pressure as one of the reasons for Boston's disappointingly average campaign. Seriously? At the TD Garden, there is a moat surrounding players from fans and members of the press. Players have never been more walled off, literally and figuratively.

On Wednesday, Brown talked about the need to improve communication with his fellow young All-Star Jayson Tatum. He said the level of scrutiny around the team makes it challenging.

"We probably should have those conversations just more," Brown said, per Boston.com. "Sometimes the way things are going, how much pressure we get from you guys in the media kind of makes us less open to talk or more upset about things that aren't that big of a deal in hindsight."

Blaming the media is a common crutch for athletes, and sometimes, they're right. Back when reporters were allowed in locker rooms — never mind team planes and busses — the questions were inescapable. It's easy to understand why some players couldn't handle Boston's high-pressure environment.

But now, inquiries hang out in the virtual space, making them easy to ignore. But the Celtics don't choose to do that. Recently, Kemba Walker and Brown called out NBA reporter Kevin O'Connor for suggesting that veteran Tristan Thompson is disliked in the locker room. Thompson came to his own defense Wednesday.

"That guy, Kevin O'Connor — I don't know if I should mention his name or not, because he doesn't deserve my two cents, but I remember every name because I am like an elephant," Thompson told reporters. "So, with him saying I'm not liked in the locker room, that was funny, because that's not the case."

Keep in mind, O'Connor made his comments about Thompson before the trade deadline last month. They were completely out of the news cycle. Thompson brought them back in.

It's been a curious chapter in recent Celtics history, beginning with the documented chair-throwing incident to Tuesday's utterly atrocious performance against Philadelphia. The lackluster effort prompted Kendrick Perkins to publicly question Tatum's leadership abilities.

The Celtics responded Wednesday with a strong effort against the Knicks. Brown, who dropped 32 points in the win, mentioned the Celtics were able to block out the negativity — this time. "I think we still have a chance to make a run," he said. "We still have a chance to do everything we said we wanted to do. So sometimes one game just tends to carry over. Today, we didn't let that happen."

After Friday's contest against the Timberwolves, the Celtics will embark on a three-game West Coast swing, beginning in Denver and ending with a showdown against the Lakers. In between, they'll take on the Trail Blazers.

That's three playoff teams, for those keeping score at home, including two Finals favorites. All season long, the Celtics have teased us with victories over lousy and mediocre clubs, only to wilt against the league's best.

Winning is the most surefire way to clamp down on negativity. But it involves canceling out the noise, as the Celtics learned this week.