Sometimes talented players make life hard on themselves by trying to do too much, mostly because they have supreme confidence in themselves to do it. ‘
Why get help doing something you can do on your own, right?
But that can also come at the expense of easy opportunities. So it’s nice to see Jaylen Brown recognize more often that easy opportunities are there for him, and that he’s taking them by cutting to the basket.
“He's done a great job of moving without the ball, and I think he needs to continue to do those things as well as getting to the free-throw line a little more,” acting head coach Damon Stoudemire said after the win over the Clippers. “When the jump shot is not falling early, you have to find a rhythm in the game. To me, I’ve always thought that to find a rhythm in the game if you’re not making jump shots is to go to the rim and get some fouls, and then you go to the free-throw line, and find a rhythm, and then the rim starts to get a little bit bigger, and I’ve seen that growth in his game.”
Easy buckets like that are a great way to take a 22-point night and turn it into a 29-point night with a couple of layups and few free throws. It takes good court awareness and someone who can get the ball where it needs to be, but this combination can make things very easy for an offense, and very difficult for a defense.
“A lot of teams try to overplay me or not allow me to get the basketball,” Brown explained. “If I see them overplaying, then I'll just cut to space. We got a lot of spacing on the floor because we have a lot of shooters so being able to build that connection with (Marcus) Smart and being able to make eye contact with him. He don't say much but he gave me that look and I give him that same look and we know when we see the opening, we just go ahead and go for it.”
That relationship with Smart is a huge part of going for those cutting opportunities. For all of the criticism Smart has faced, he’s truly a pass-first point guard. Smart is averaging a career-best 7.4 assists per game, and 2.4 of those are going to Brown, Smart’s number one target on the team (Smart has 77 assists to Brown this season, and 68 to Jayson Tatum). He is looking for Brown and Tatum to get them going, and Brown’s cutting is giving Smart easy targets.
Four of Smart’s nine assists against the Clippers went to Brown. Four of six against Houston went to Brown as well. Half of those resulted in finishes at the rim.
"We get out and run, their speed and their athleticism, a lot of times is to our advantage,” Smart said. “He's cutting hard like that. It's hard for anybody to keep up with him. It's just one of those things where I give him a look and he knows to go backdoor. He might not get it but at least he knows we're going to keep the defense honest when it's time to get that pass. It usually comes late because teams usually fall asleep on it."
The beauty of the cut is that It serves as both immediate punishment for poor defense and a warning to other defenses. The more Brown cuts, the more the message gets out to other teams that hugging up too much on him will backfire. Against an offense like Boston’s that's powered by two elite scorers, opposing defenses will be looking to dare someone else to do the damage.
But if overplaying Brown in an effort to deny him leads to cuts, then defenses can’t use that strategy. If teams are weary about the backdoor play, they’ll back off and give him more space.
Ultimately, this unlocks another level of Brown’s play, and it’s a very welcome one. Each cut is an easy basket and, often, a highlight. Scorers love to score and they love to create highlights. They love looking up and seeing big totals next to their names, and this does all that in a way that keeps defenses honest and on their toes.
The more cuts, the better. On a night where Brown couldn't make a 3-pointer, he still poured in 29 points by getting to the rim and getting to the line. The Brown and Smart connection is becoming more beneficial by the game.
“Having that connection with Smart helps me be able to do what I've been able to do at times this season by getting some of those easy baskets,” Brown said “It's great for our team and it also gets me going so having Smart who is looking for that is tremendous for our team. He probably doesn't get enough credit but he's always looking to make the right play.”