Celtics notes: Jaylen Brown named Eastern Conference player of the week, defensive slippage a priority at practice

BOSTON -- A mix of news and analysis after the Celtics practiced in Brighton:

Jaylen Brown was named the Eastern Conference player of the week on Monday, the first time that a Celtic earned that honor since Isaiah Thomas during the 2016-17 season.

Brown was sensational in three games last week, averaging a team-high 27.0 points on 62.2% shooting (57.9% 3-PT), 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He also posted a career-high 34 points in the win over the Cavs and scored 30 points in back-to-back games against Cleveland and the Raptors.

In 27 games this season (all starts), Brown is averaging 20.6 points (51.8% FG, 40.0% 3-PT), 7.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 33.6 minutes played. He’s one of four NBA players averaging at least 20.0 points on 51.0% shooting in 2019-20, joining Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns and DeMar DeRozan.

Brown’s status for the C’s next game in Charlotte remains up in the air, however, after he missed practice on Monday due to illness. He tried to participate but was sent to the hospital by the training staff to get checked out. Boston flew to Charlotte this afternoon ahead of a New Year’s Eve matinee against the Hornets on Tuesday, but there has been no word yet about Brown’s availability.

On the health front elsewhere, Gordon Hayward’s foot continues to feel better after a cortisone shot last week. Meanwhile, look for Marcus Smart’s minutes' load to be increased as he builds back more endurance following his eye infection last week.

“I think it will go up as the days go on,” Brad Stevens said of the minutes limit for tomorrow. “We tried to keep him within 20-25, so I wouldn’t be surprised — I haven’t gotten the email, but I’m guessing it will be 25-30.”

A sidelined Brown could put the C’s shorthanded again when they face off with the Hornets, but the month of January should be big for the coaching staff to determine what they have at full strength.

“I think the most important thing is rotations generally,” Stevens said. “But, you know, that’s going to change game to game once you get into the latter part of the year and if you’re fortunate enough to make the playoffs. It may change series to series, game to game. So, some of that stuff you’re just learning what groups play best together, who complements who, how we can keep guys fresh and keep enough threats on the court at once. And continue to build up who complements those guys the best. I think we’re still on that search.”

Cleaning up defensive slippage

In the wake of the ugliest game of the year on Saturday, Stevens kept his main focus on the defensive end during Monday’s practice to help clean up some issues that may have been masked during a five-game winning streak for the C’s.

“The focus today was cleaning up some things we weren’t as good at the last few games, specifically on the defensive end of the floor,” Stevens said. “Just make sure we’re tightening up on who we need to be the rest of the year.”

Transition defense, pick-and-roll defense, and rebounding were all serious trouble areas against the Raptors and effort came into play a lot when it comes to boxing out and getting back on defense.

“Even in the last two games, we didn’t compete at the level that we needed to,” Jayson Tatum admitted. “You definitely could see that in the Toronto game. They just played harder than we did and it showed, especially just getting back in transition. We gotta do a better job of that.”

“It’s not about rhythm. It’s about not experiencing slippage,” Stevens said. “You’re going to get rhythm in games, you’re going to have plenty of chance to build that. But we have to make sure that we stay on top of all the things we need to do to be a good team. We have some things — as have been well-discussed and before the season were well-pointed out – that we have to manage. So to do that we have to play well in other areas, specifically at the point of attack in transition and with our ball pressure. And those are areas where, when we slip, you can see it immediately. And it affects our whole defense.”

With 17 games looming over the next 31 days, there won’t be a lot of time to fix many issues on the fly, which puts an additional priority on the action this week.

“We’re not going to have many practices in the next month and a half,” Stevens said. “Days like today aren’t going to be very long, but the message has to be very clear. We need to be able to take the emphasis and apply them.”

“You gotta be mature about it,” Tatum said of the challenging slate. “With the schedule, you can’t always practice as much as you want. You just gotta understand if you want to be a part of something special, you gotta have the same level of focus every day and it’s what we have to get back to tomorrow.”

Quick hitters

—Carsen Edwards was sent to the Maine Red Claws ahead of practice. Maine will host a game on New Year’s eve.
—Tatum and Javonte Green were involved in a spirited game of 1-on-1 after practice that involved plenty of fun trash talk. Tatum on Green: “He’s added a lot. He’s very talented. You see that when he does get the opportunity to go out there and play. He’s a great teammate, he works hard, he’s here every day, and a funny guy. Funny guy to be around. He keeps making everybody laugh. He’s funny.”
—Tatum on his appearance in a Rakuten commercial: “I’m getting better. From my first commercials my rookie year 'til now, they should put me in a movie. The Rakuten commercial, it was like a voiceover. But then they were showing me doing visual. that was a little bit easier. I'm going to be in a movie one day.”