Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are building a bright Celtics future together

Many things needed to go right for the Celtics this season to resume their path toward becoming a lasting contender in the East. However, there was no more pivotal development for that long-term calculus than the play of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Kemba Walker was a big addition but he is a known commodity at age 29. Gordon Hayward is also crucial but his age and contract status makes his long-term future with the Celtics a bit uncertain. With no more top-tier lottery picks coming (the young Grizzlies look too good for that barring some major lottery luck) and no clear-cut All-Star players looking like they will come available via trade in the foreseeable future, internal improvement is clearly the best path toward an NBA title in Boston.

Tatum and Brown have answered the bell on that front on countless nights during the first two months of the regular season and they did so again on Friday night. With Kemba Walker delivering a dud (2 points, 7 turnovers in 30 minutes) and the C's already down Marcus Smart and Gordon Hayward due to injury/illness, Boston’s dynamic young duo made sure it didn’t matter. Tatum and Brown teamed up to score 26 points each and shoot a collective 63 percent from the field (19/30 FG) in under 30 minutes each as the Celtics ran away with a 114-93 win against an overmatched Pistons squad.

“First of all I thought Tatum came out extremely aggressive in the first quarter,” Brad Stevens said of the performance by the duo. “Jaylen went on that flurry at the end of the second, obviously, but part of that is you gotta choose your matchup, maybe you switch it up halfway through if one gets going, but there’s a lot of versatility in scoring with those two. They can put it on the ground, they can get to the rim, they’re both aggressive. They were really good tonight. But I thought it wasn’t Kemba’s night, but I thought everybody on our team contributed to winning. And I think everyone on the team knows that we’re doing a lot to center ourselves around those three guys while we’re not healthy. I thought they all gave us a lot.”

Consistency is the biggest obstacle for young players to reach All-Star levels but that’s an area that has dramatically improved for both Tatum and Brown this year as they take turns leading the way for a shorthanded Boston unit. Tatum started the heavy lifting with 11 first-quarter points while it was Brown who erupted for 10 points in one stellar 92-second flurry at the end of the first half, a run that gave Boston momentum to run away with the game in the second half.

“Just two young guys trying to get better every day,” Tatum said of himself and Brown. “We don’t try to look too far ahead, just stay in the moment and keep working, keep trying to get better, keep winning. That’s what we care about is winning.”

The winning has been a constant for much of the past three years, especially when Brown and Tatum have been featured options in the offense. Chemistry has been there since day one and that is something that clearly appeals to Tatum over the long view.

“We different,” he explained. “You probably can tell he’s stronger than me, more athletic, faster, he can jump higher. But we do a lot of things that are similar. But we’ve been playing with each other for a while, so we just try to feed off of each other. We know what each other can do on the court. So, it’s still a learning experience. Hopefully, we can continue to play with each other for a very long time, but for now, stay in the moment.”

Staying in the moment has plenty of appeal for this group despite a rash of recent injuries. Grant Williams (career-high 18 points), Enes Kanter (season-high 18 rebounds) stood out among a stellar performance by the Celtics bench as a whole that gave the C’s an easy win with two key rotation pieces out. The atmosphere in the Garden turned electric in the second half as Tacko Fall made his regular-season debut on the home floor. The connection on the roster from Tatum and Brown all the way done to Fall is visible on a nightly basis.

“We enjoy each other, we're having a good time,” Grant Williams said. “It's fun to win but it's also fun to compete with guys that you know are going to play their butts off for you every single night, play with that effort and intensity on both ends of the court. We celebrate each other, but we also get on each other. People don't normally see that. There is a lot of trust in this team and we try to keep advancing as the season goes in.”

While the opportunity will remain large for Tatum and Brown as they carry the scoring load together for a shorthanded supporting cast, there is no doubt they will be welcoming back more firepower when it's ready.

“I would much rather have Smart here and Gordon,” Tatum said. “I feel like we can be really special when everybody is healthy. It’s been unfortunate so far. We’ve been doing a good job, but we still don’t know what we look like at 100 percent, so I can’t wait for those guys to get back.”

As the Celtics’ strong start extends towards 30 games into the season and surpasses even some internal expectations according to one team source, there are still no brighter spots in this puzzle than Tatum and Brown. The Celtics have building blocks that want to grow old together and that’s exactly what the front office was wishing for in the wake of a disastrous 2018-19 season.