During last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, there were very few players on the Celtics that looked like they belonged on the same floor as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Most of that Celtics roster played tentatively, looked overmatched and were seemingly afraid of James’ shadow with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
Despite being a 20-year-old rookie, Jaylen Brown was one of the Celtics who managed to hold his own in that series. He took his lumps, but he also went right at James whenever he had the chance with plays like this.
That type of potential and fearlessness helped Brown survive the team’s roster overhaul this summer. In Year 2, he’s quickly morphed from a role player with promise, to the leading scorer on the Celtics roster this postseason (20.2 points per 36 minutes), setting the stage for a return match against James in the Eastern Conference Finals with better reinforcements.
Brown led the way for the Celtics in Game 1 with 23 points and when James was ready with a forceful response in Game 2, it was Brown who stepped up first to fight back.
The 21-year-old was guarded by James during much of that opening frame and kept the Celtics afloat in the midst of James’ 21-point, first-quarter outburst. He scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting during that stretch to keep a cold-shooting Celtics team in the game. Brown's teammates went a combined 4-of-13 in the field in the frame, which could have produced a massive deficit as James piled up the points at an absurd rate. Instead, Brown’s offense kept things manageable. The Celtics never trailed by more than 10 points in the quarter despite the sluggish start.
“When somebody comes out like that, it’s easy to get discouraged, especially when time after time it seems like we’ve seen that story over and over,” Brown said. “LeBron just dominates the game and they win. I was just trying to relay to my team, 'Just keep staying the course, he’s throwing punches and we gotta keep throwing punches back.'”
Brown has been no stranger to that type of early offense this postseason. He’s averaged 13.5 points per game in the first quarter this series and leads the team in points scored in the first quarter in the postseason.
“I always try to be aggressive,” he said. “I came out and was aggressive last game, too. Tried to come out and give our team a spark, give us a lift and just don’t sit back and wait for them to punch us. It was important for us to hit them first.”
That aggression showed from the opening tip in Game 1. He punished some soft defense from LeBron as he started off the scoring with an open 3 off a pick.
Jaylen Brown trey to start Game 2!#CUsRise x #WhateverItTakes
?: @ESPNNBA pic.twitter.com/Rq6tedAy3Y
— NBA (@NBA) May 16, 2018
Al ➡️Jaylen ? pic.twitter.com/1myCLkAvbj
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 16, 2018
Jaylen Brown gets to his left hand!
20 PTS on 8-12 FG for Jaylen.#CUsRise @ESPNNBA pic.twitter.com/qvIvjtJy5e
— NBA (@NBA) May 16, 2018