A few leftover thoughts after a second viewing of Celtics-Warriors:
1. Jaylen Brown’s defense was even better than I thought: The 21-year-old swingman delivered an outstanding offensive performance in the second half despite playing with a heavy heart after the death of his friend, but his defensive effort was nearly just as good for the better part of 48 minutes against the Warriors’ offense. Brown split most of his time defending Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant and neither player got hot for any extended stretches in this game. The second-year guard fought hard through screens, made just a handful of mental mistakes and made up for many of those with his athleticism and recovery speed. His defense on Durant in the second half was particularly noteworthy because of how well he contested with his length on plays like this:
Tight defense from Jaylen Brown but Kevin Durant is just too good pic.twitter.com/pnuqaWXQLb
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) November 17, 2017
The Celtics defense allows .805 points per possession with Jaylen Brown on the floor, which would lead the NBA by a significant margin. They allow .941 with Brown on the bench which would rank 9th.
— Synergy Sports Tech (@SynergySST) November 17, 2017
Kyrie Irving gets a foul on this late drive...sinks two free throws. #celtics take a late lead
(via @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/9MBnbTDbmI
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) November 17, 2017