One night, Jaylen Brown recognized his need to be a playmaker. The next night, the Celtics star returned to his elite scoring ways while also setting the tone on defense.

Over two consecutive nights in Texas, Brown continued to demonstrate his unquestionable all-around growth for the Celtics. When Ime Udoka’s Rockets were intent on not letting him score with ease like in their first matchup, Brown didn’t force anything, instead happily taking a facilitating role as he recorded the third triple-double of his career. Twenty-four hours later in Dallas, Brown took an aggressive approach on both ends as he erupted for 34 points and locked down Luka Doncic defensively in a win over the Mavericks.

Brown has said he believes he’s playing the best basketball of his career this season. After painful endings to the last three seasons that have in some ways exposed his flaws, Brown has taken it upon himself to be a more complete player. The results are apparent through 44 games, and the Celtics’ two-game sweep in Texas provided the latest example.

“I’m a firm believer in myself,” Brown told reporters after Monday’s win. “I feel like I get better every single year and I’m going to continue to get better. Whatever criticism, from whatever fans, your own fans or whoever else fans, I really don’t care. I’m just going to keep improving until I die.”

That includes not only working on his game, but his body.

In Monday’s win over the Mavs, Brown simply wore down Doncic on both ends of the court. He hunted Doncic when he was on offense and succeeded, then took on the assignment of guarding him. Doncic recorded a triple-double with 33 points, but was highly inefficient as he took 30 shots.

Brown takes pride in playing at a high level offensively and defensively, and said he can do it because of his improved body.

“There’s two sides to the ball, so being able to apply pressure on both, you have to be at a certain level of shape to be able to do that,” Brown told reporters. “You want to put an emphasis on attacking and being aggressive on both sides of the ball.”

Brown said earlier in the season, he had to ask to be the primary defender on opposing stars like Doncic. But now it’s expected.

“I think it’s normalized now,” Brown told reporters. “I’ve been doing it all season. I’ve been guarding the best players on pretty much every single team night in and night out, so I think it’s just normal at this point.”

Brown has been the Celtics’ most vocal proponent of maintaining a high defensive level this season. Upon Marcus Smart’s departure, he wanted to make sure the Celtics didn’t have any drop-off on that end. Multiple times this season, Brown has publicly campaigned for himself as an All-Defensive player.

Brown has already solidified himself as one of the best scorers in the league and performances like Monday will only bolster his stock as an elite defender. He wants that recognition, and he hopes it can help elevate his game when it matters.

“I think we kind of glorify guys who can play one side of the ball, but we don’t really pay respect to people who guard and play defense, and get deflections and steals and change the game in that area,” Brown said. “We glorify the people who can score because that’s what the NBA has marketed, but basketball is both sides.

“The purity of it is that as I’m trying to challenge myself to get better, I challenge myself to be the best that I can on both sides of the ball. Moments like this kind of prepares you for I think the long run. Being able to pick up guys full court, being able to get in guys’ jerseys for the long duration of time, kind of builds endurance for the playoffs and stuff like that. I did a little bit of it last year in the playoffs, especially in the Philly series picking up James Harden full court but now my body’s in a different shape, so I plan on building that so we can go to that and I can do that for long durations when I need to.”

Tip-ins

Brown and Jayson Tatum made some more history in Monday’s win over the Mavs, as they became the first teammates in league history to both score 30 points with two-plus blocks and zero turnovers in the same game. … The Celtics are now 27-2 when Brown and Tatum both score 30 points in the same game. …

USA Basketball announced its initial 41-player pool for this summer’s Olympics on Tuesday, and it includes four Celtics – Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. Tatum and Holiday were both on the 2020 team that won gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Tuesday’s announcement is the first step towards assembling the 12-man team.