Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have been together for nine NBA seasons. They have played 610 regular season games, 121 playoff games, 11 NBA Finals games, and of course, won the 2024 NBA championship together in 2024.

With all of this success, some people will still tell you with a straight face that they aren’t the best duo in the NBA right now — that is blasphemy. While only playing 9 games together this season, we have seen the chemistry build back up and this win against the Oklahoma City Thunder was the catalyst for me to say they have reclaimed their title as best duo in the NBA.

Jaylen Brown finished with his 33rd 30+ point game of the season with 31 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals on 9-17 shooting and 12-14 from free throw line. Jayson Tatum had another double-double, finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block while shooting 5-12 from the field and 3-6 from three.

I asked Brown in the postgame press conference his thoughts on playing alongside Tatum when both of them are dominating on the floor together. He said: “I felt like that was a great, encouraging game for JT, like high level intensity, physical team, and it felt like that was a step in the right direction. We still encourage them to get back to that level of aggression that we know and are used to. But I think today was a great game, and making the right plays, making the right reads, being physical and being Jayson Tatum, and I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

If we’re talking chemistry, nothing was more apparent than this play at the 5:34 mark of the second quarter. All five players on the Thunder defense were watching Tatum in the right corner and he was still able to make an incredible pass to Brown who knocked down the three over a late Luguentz Dort contest.

When it came to the Jays contributing to the team together, we can look at the 11-0 run that Boston went on late in the second quarter. In this short burst, both Brown and Tatum were able to use their gravity to find wide open shooters for three and give the Celtics their first lead of the night with 1:15 left in the first half.

The best part about have two Top 10 players in the NBA is that at any given time they can takeover a game and we saw that the Thunder had no answer when it came to stopping the Jays.

Jayson Tatum went first, dominating the first half with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block on 4-7 shooting from the field and 2-4 from three. The second quarter specifically might have been the best he looked all season on both sides of the ball.

On offense, Tatum looked more aggressive in this quarter than in almost any other we have seen so far since he has come back. The threes he was able to make after going one-on-one with the defender and the drive he had against Chet Holmgren were great signs. His passing ability also looked sharp after some tough turnovers in the first quarter.

On defense, Tatum was active in the passing lanes, finishing with two steals on some poor offensive execution from the Thunder. I would say his block was the most impressive, coming out of no where to send back a shot from Dort. After the Celtics scored only 20 points in the first quarter, Tatum’s play led to Boston outscoring OKC 29-22 in the second quarter.

After Tatum set the stage in the first half, Jaylen Brown took the baton in the second half. Brown finished the second half with 24 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds on 6-7 shooting from the field and 12-14 from the free throw line.

Brown scored 14 points in the third quarter alone and did a great job of getting to the free throw line, taking 9 attempts. He affected the game with his scoring and facilitating as well. Brown just bullied any defender that was in his way to the basket with none better coming when he put three Thunder players on a poster.

His passing was huge when it came to kicking out to his open teammate after the defense decided to collapse and focus on him. Brown’s play led to the Celtics outscoring the Thunder 39-30 in the third quarter.

Brown continued his big second half in the fourth quarter to close the game, scoring 10 points on 3-3 shooting. He attacked the basket with aggression and even gave Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a taste of his own medicine, drawing a foul on a pump fake and finished the midrange jumper with a smile. Boston finished the game dominating OKC in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 31-26.

You can go through the NBA right now and see a ton of great duos but none of them can compare to the level of Brown and Tatum when they are both at their best on the same night. This game against the Thunder showed that it doesn’t matter who the 1A or 1B is when it comes to talking about the Jays.

Instead, we saw both of them takeover the game to beat the number 1 team in the league who was riding a 12 game winning streak. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are the best duo in the NBA right now and the rest of the basketball world should be terrified that both of them are together again.