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Jaylen Brown wrote rap to settle nerves about guarding LeBron

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Action Images

The Boston Celtics handed Jaylen Brown an impossible task.

The 19-year-old rookie was assigned to take shifts guarding LeBron James in the Eastern Conference Finals, and naturally, Brown had a few doubts. Checking the best player on the planet made Brown nervous to the point of puking, and he had to get creative to manage his emotions.

Brown eventually found calm by writing a rap song about guarding James. He would listen to his self-produced three-minute clip repeatedly to steady himself before doing battle with James, according to Avery Yang of SportsTechie.

Here's a bit of what Brown wrote and repeated to himself:

Game day and it's time to focus in. … Is you ready, I can feel you breathing heavy, keep it steady. I just gotta pretend that I got it all together when I don't. Probably wanna throw up but I won't … just breathe.

Breathe in, breathe out, listen to my voice breathe in, breathe out. (Expletive) you ain't got a choice, breathe in, breathe out. I can feel my hands sweaty, I can feel my legs heavy.

Athletes psyching themselves up with music before games is fairly common, but Brown took the added approach of making his own audio on the advice of his mental skills coach. The goal was to take a more personal and targeted approach to overcoming what Brown was feeling.

The unorthodox approach might have brought Brown some relief, but James was mostly unaffected. The King averaged 29.6 points per game while shooting 58 percent from the field while leading Cleveland over Boston in five mostly noncompetitive games.

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