Marcus Smart on Jaylen Brown: He Talks a Lot of Trash, He Don't Care Who You Are

The Boston Celtics did not appear to be intimidated by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, beating them easily 108-83 behind Jaylen Brown's 23 points and eight rebounds.

And it wasn't a surprise to Marcus Smart that Brown and his teammates weren't afraid of King James.

"You know Jaylen, he talks a lot of trash," Smart said of his teammate after the contest, per Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. "He don't care who you are. It's no surprise he comes out and does what he does. No fear or remorse about it. We have to keep that all in us."

Brown came in the series prepared for his matchup against James, essentially calling him out Saturday while discussing facing him on both the offensive and defensive end.

"He'd better be alert, because if he's not, I'm going to get it going," Brown said before the series, per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. "You've got to make him work on both sides of the ball. Usually he's guarding the least-offensive threat on the floor, so if he's guarding me, I'm going to make him pay."

Smart admitted after Game 1 that he wasn't expecting those comments from Brown in the lead-up to the series.

"Yeah, I was surprised to hear him say that," he said, per John Tomase of NESN.com. "But you know, that's how we all feel. We've played against guys bigger than us our whole lives and we've been the underdog and this is nothing new to us."

The Celtics have earned their swagger this postseason. They're now 6-0 at home, beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and knocked out a surging Philadelphia 76ers team in five games in the conference semifinals.

The team's defense, meanwhile, held James to just 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting and the Cavaliers as a whole to 4-of-26 shooting from beyond the arc. While both James and the Cavaliers will shoot better in this series, the ability of players like Marcus Morris or Brown to bother James will be a factor. 

James, of course, has faced pesky defenders before and come out on top. Just ask Lance Stephenson. But the Celtics aren't going to back down, either. 

"We have a lot of guys that just don't care," Smart said. "Playing LeBron and that Cavs team is great—they've been here for a reason. We have talent as well. We're fearless."