Jaylen Brown on Sunday night became the seventh Celtic to hit for 50 points in a game. He joins Larry Bird, Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, Paul Pierce, Isaiah Thomas, and teammate Jayson Tatum on the prestigious list.
“It’s about time that he scores 50,” Dennis Schroder joked after the game, walking into the interview room with a signed child-sized Brown jersey. “That’s for my nephew. That’s his favorite player. He got 50 today so I thought it was a good time to let him sign it.”
Usually, a player feels when he’s having a big game. Brown seemed distracted earlier in the game and then, when the team needed a big burst to steal the win, it was a bit too late for stat counting.
“To be honest I didn’t even realize until the last shot, when I had 47,” Brown said. “Other than that I was just being aggressive, getting to the basket. I didn’t feel like those guys could stay in front of me, so I was just going to keep getting to the basket, blowing by them on the first step, and I looked up and I had 47 and I was like damn. Then I hit the three off the Smart pass to get to 50, but I wasn’t even really paying attention until it got to that.”
It was a monster game, but more impressively, a monster finish on a night where pitchforks were being sharpened and torches were being lit. Brown not only made a little history, he staved off the angry masses who were ready to sink their claws into a team on the verge of a new low.
Here are a few interesting stats coming out of Brown’s career night.
- Brown had the fewest made free throws of any Celtic who scored 50
Brown was 7-8 from the line. The only other 50-piece in Celtics history with single-digit free throws was Jones, who was 9-9 from the line.
Side note: That makes Jones’ 51 even more impressive. That came in 1965, so there was no 3-point line. He needed 42 of his points to come from 2-point land. He shot 21-35 from the field. The Celtics lost that game by 2, 108-106.
- Brown’s 7 turnovers were the most for a Celtics 50 point game
I’m not bringing this up to pick on Brown. I’m bringing up to point out Larry Bird had 6 in his first 50 point game. It happens to the best of ‘em.
- According to NBA tracking data, Brown was 12-15 on contested shots, 7-14 on uncontested shots.
This seems like a weird one, but it makes more sense when you look at the shot chart.
The contested shots were mainly finishes in and around the rim. Brown did an excellent job, especially in that 14 points in four minute stretch to close the fourth quarter, of attacking and finishing through contact. Which leads me to…
- More than half the points Brown scored came in the paint.
26 of the 50 points were scored in the paint. Seven came from the free throw line, and 15 came from the 3-point line. That leaves that one little green Fruit Loop on the left side of that shot chart.
This one:
That's his only non-paint 2-point score of the night. Pretty impressive.
- Brown did it on the defensive end
He had 4 deflections, most on the team and he finished with a 98.9 defensive rating as part of a starting group that clamped down, especially toward the end of the game. He defended 10 shots and only two fell.
Brown’s 50 spot is not only a piece of history, it also hammers home a point Ime Udoka recently made.
“When a guy like Jayson or Dennis has been missing, a lot more is on his shoulders, but just simplifying it and letting the game come to him,” Udoka said “I think I told him that in Minnesota. He was rushing a little bit, just let it come. You’ve got the whole game to get where you need to get to, don’t try to shoulder the load by yourself the whole first half.”
Brown did that against Orlando. The bulk of his scoring came late in the game, which supports Udoka’s message. Maybe this could be a piece of advice that sticks with Brown moving forward.
“Ime has been great. Despite some of the bad games I’ve had and bad reads I might have done, Ime has trusted me,” Brown said. “I’ll continue to learn and grow in those positions and help my team down the line. We’ll get rolling, especially when we get JT back, and we get the rest of our guys back. These last couple of games I think I’ve learned a lot.”
