Jaylen Brown’s night was over.
After 36:15 of basketball, 41 points scored, and at that point a 33-point lead halfway through the fourth quarter, Brown pulled his black mask up to his forehead and made his way to the bench.
It’s been a weird week for Brown, who saw two articles publish back-to-back in national outlets, (even though one of the interviews was done back in January) that stirred some discussion about his future in Boston. If Brown wasn’t sure if he was truly appreciated by Celtics fans, he certainly saw how they felt in this moment.
As he made his way down toward the end of the bench, fans around the arena stood and cheered, including Celtics legend Paul Pierce, who was taking in the game courtside. Brown raised his hand to acknowledge the crowd, and he was met with one more roar.
Giving JB his flowers 💐 pic.twitter.com/0ZLfROyKvO
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 27, 2023
“It’s great and it’s fun,” Brown said afterward. “Whatever challenge there’s been, I’ve always met that challenge with excitement and a willingness to be a part of a team. When you get an opportunity to be the guy that everybody is kind of leaning on, it’s a privilege, it’s an honor. So I don’t take those moments for granted. I come out each and every night, strap my shoes up, and get my guys ready to go.”
No one has been quite as ready to go as Brown since the All-Star break. The team might have had its ups and downs, but Brown has been a constant. He’s ninth in the NBA in scoring since the break, and only four of those guys have a better field goal percentage. His shooting is up 2.5% overall and 5.7% on 3-pointers, adding two more points per game to his average in that 15-game span. He’s turning the ball over a little less while creating more, and he’s gone from a +3.6 to a +5.2, showing he’s having a greater impact overall.
And he’s not just leading by example.
“(He’s) leading us in a great way, obviously,” Robert Williams said of Brown. “Really this year JB has been way more vocal. Not as laid back, stepping up and taking on the leader role too. So we need that for sure.”
It’s part of an evolution on and off the court for Brown, who turned 26 as the season started.
“That is something that I always try to improve in different facets each year is just leadership,” Brown said. “You got a team that is capable of going all the way, so leadership is extremely important and this year has been ups and downs due to all the other kinda outside stuff that's been going on where my voice has been there and sometimes it's not. But as we get closer to the playoffs, I plan on communicating as much as I can to help this team get over the hump.”
On the court, he’s taking, and making, more 2-point shots than ever. It’s why his effective field goal percentage is still up 1.2% from last season, even though his 3-point shooting has been more of a struggle this season.
“Now he has the ability to break defenses down, to understand how the defense is guarding him, to anticipate where the help is coming from and then to make the right play,” Joe Mazzulla said, later adding, “I think he's just making the right read. I think he's understanding what his primary defender is doing and where the secondary defense is, and what to make that read is.
“And so because he's worked at his shot selection, because he's worked on his early offensive attacks, because he's worked at getting points in transition, the defense opens up for him. And so he's now recognizing how the defense is guarding him every play and he's studying it and he's making those reads.”
Brown’s rim reads, understanding what play needs to be made at the critical moment when he’s closest to the hoop, have been an adventure at times. He has always relied on his athleticism and sometimes it has brought him to bad places. He has the utmost confidence in his ability to fly past, or over, defenders, so he hasn’t historically done much besides that.
But now the guy who used to get blocked time after time at the rim is giving up those shot attempts and finding his teammates. In the second quarter against the Spurs, Brown ran what’s become a signature backdoor cut play with Marcus Smart. He could have tried a tough reverse finish … and he might have in the past … but instead he casually kicked it to Malcolm Brogdon in the corner for a 3.
“He’ll be All-NBA, he’ll make one of the teams this year. His game really speaks for itself,” Brogdon said. “When (Jayson Tatum) is out, he’s the No. 1 option. He’s showing that he can be that. He’s put in the work, he’s evolved. Since we came in the league together, he’s evolved and taken giant steps forward every year, and he’s playing at an extremely high level.”
Brown has gone from a guy who needs to be fed to score to a guy who can hunt for his own offense. It’s the basketball version of teaching a man to fish, but what Brown is reeling in now is big scoring nights that come within the flow of the kind of offense we’ve been dying to see.
“I think it's more of that as I've, one, gotten better and proved through experience and just maturation as a basketball player and as a man,” Brown said. “Two, I've cultivated a style of play and I feel like it's conducive for me, but also our team. Getting to the paint, getting to my sweet spots in the midrange, taking 3s that I like, catch-and-shoot but not overdoing it, shooting 10-plus a game. Just finding a pace and a comfort in my game and being able to get my guys ready to go.”
For 15 games since the break, Brown has been ready to go, one of the few constants the Celtics have been able to rely on over that stretch. Grant Williams likes to pretend he’s a bit of a caped crusader, but it’s been Brown who has pulled on a mask every night and swooped in to be the hero Boston needs. If the Celtics are going to keep this roll going, they’ll need Brown to keep his going as well, even if he might not need the mask for much longer.
“My mom wants me to wear it,” Brown said. “So I'll probably keep wearing it.”
