Marcus Smart’s first assist of the win over Washington was a simple pass to Jayen Brown that Brown ultimately turned into a layup.
Smart’s second assist was a nice little underhand flip to Brown streaking down the middle of the floor for a dunk.
His third found Brown in the post. His fourth was a beauty off the dribble floating over the fingertips to Brown for another layup. His fifth and sixth also found Brown. Only his final dime, to Al Horford, went to someone other than Brown.
These six assists were numbers 38-43 on the season to Brown. He’s assisted on about a quarter of Brown’s made baskets this season.
“We’ve been playing together for a long time,” Brown said. “He believes in me. He’s one of the guys who’s always letting me know, like, you’re one of the better guys in this league so don’t let anybody forget that. I appreciate him for being a great teammate, being a great supporter.”
Is there anything particularly special about a point guard finding one of the league’s best wing scorers for assists? No, not particularly. He has assisted on almost 21% of Jayson Tatum’s buckets too. This is what point guards do.
But in a sense, the fact that it’s not remarkable is remarkable itself.
“Me and Smart, we’ve had fights, we’ve had ups, we’ve had downs,” Brown said. “But at the end of the day, that’s my brother and I appreciate him trying to make me the best version of myself.”
Two years ago, Smart and Brown made headlines with a locker room argument during their Eastern Conference Finals series with the Miami Heat in the bubble. A lot has changed, including Smart’s role.
“It's always been there,” Smart said of his connection with Brown. “I guess it's just being highlighted more, now that I'm starting at the point guard position more than any other time. But we've always had that connection. There's more touches so we can get him open.”
Brown’s growth is a big part of making these plays as well.
“When Jaylen first got here, he used to go 1-on-5, 1-on-4, just throw up some bullshit. We would look at him like ‘Jaylen, what are you doing?’” Smart said. “And his excuse to us — or his reasoning was ‘When everyone is telling me to slow down, the defense hears that, so I’m going to speed up.’ And we were like, ‘No no no, Jaylen, that doesn’t make any sense.’
“He’s using more of his grace now to where he’s understanding that sometimes just being patient and let the game come to me instead of just trying to go get it, and I think that part of his game has grown exponentially for us. He’s patient with the ball, making his reads, taking his shots, when to pick his spots.”
Brown’s finishing might be his biggest evolution. Smart’s right about where Brown was as a straight-line cannonball in transition, trying to play through defenses and getting blocked or turning it over. Now Smart and Brown have a sort of left-hand finishing competition.
“Experience has been the best teacher. So I've improved and gotten better throughout this league, but I think I've always been talented. But like you said, as a 19 year old now I'm a 26 year old, yeah, of course I've gotten better.”
Brown and Tatum are now the unquestioned alpha dogs. Gone are score-first star point guards like Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker. Gordon Hayward isn’t taking touches away on the wing. Brown is on one wing, and Tatum is on the other. Joe Mazzulla’s offense demands movement, cutting, and running when they can. With Tatum on the sidelines against Washington, Smart and Brown had the floor.
“JB's one of the most athletic guys in this league,” Smart said. “Whichever way you go, he's one of the fastest guys. So when he gets out and he runs, it's hard for people to keep up with him and that's how we're gonna get easy buckets for not only him, but for our team.”
That's where the Smart/Brown connection really shines. As much as people want to complain about Smart’s shots, he’s a pass-first point guard at his core. When he has a target like Brown streaking up the sideline, Smart’s inclination is to find even the slimmest sliver of daylight and thread a pass to Brown cutting to the hoop.
“Smart is looking to get everybody going,” Brown said. “I think he’s got his opportunity as a starting point guard in this league and he helped us go to the Finals last year … he might not get the credit he deserves but Smart is a big reason why we’re having our success this year and last year when we went to the Finals.”
In a way, Smart and Brown connecting as much as they have is nothing more than a point guard finding a scorer. But Smart’s the point guard now, and Brown is the scorer, and a few years ago, a lot of people wouldn’t have imagined either of them in this position.
Smart taking just eight shots while leading the team in assists? Brown carrying the scoring load without Tatum to score 36 with just two 3-pointers in his total? Really?
They teamed up Sunday night to get the Celtics their 12th win in 13 tries. The Celtics have the league’s best record, having won 80% of their games so far. Boston has the NBA’s best offense, and best point differential.
They’ve come a long way. They're the two longest-tenured players on this team. They're veterans entering their primes, which is a little wild to think about.
Time flies. But so does Jaylen Brown. And when he does, you can bet Smart will find him.
