Jaylen Brown was struggling. Shooting 1-6 in the early going, he curled off a pick from Al Horford, got the pass from Malcolm Brogdon, lowered his shoulder to clear some space against Jalen Johnson, and lofted a floater.
He missed that shot too, and the Hawks took it the other way for a layup, prompting a Joe Mazzulla timeout. Brown pulled his black mask onto the top of his forehead, hung his head, and walked to the bench.
The mask never made it back onto the floor.
“I was actually on the bench and then after the timeout we were looking for Jaylen,” Marcus Smart said. “Couldn't find him because he didn't have his mask on and then … he makes those plays where he's driving with force. … We just knew at that moment it was a different JB and he's going to carry us and bring us home.”
Jayson Tatum said “it’s go time, now” when he realized what was going on. It’s not exactly Reno Hightower coming out wearing his white shoes to come back from 26 points down, but these were the best of times for Brown after five quarters of rough basketball in his hometown.
“Maybe it was all in my head. I just needed a different look,” Brown said of his decision to ditch the mask he’d worn for exactly two months, beginning on February 23. “I just needed something different. I don't know what it was. Needed to change my shoes, wipe my hands off, take the mask off, whatever I needed to do. I just needed to help my team get a win.”
His 29 points after that moment certainly did that, but Brown’s two assists to Robert Williams late in the fourth quarter were two of his best plays of the night. No one would have been shocked if Brown had tried to score either of those, but instead, he made the right reads, and they became easy baskets.
“I thought he did a good job making plays at the rim, operating in space, playing off two feet, making the right play,” Mazzulla said after the win. “To me, he just showed tremendous poise on the offensive and he had the ball in his hands making plays for himself and others.”
This wasn’t an easy win, but it might have been one of the more important for a Celtics group that has built a less-than-stellar reputation for itself. I, like many others, have been expecting an easy series, at least when it comes to the final games count. A 4-1 win would qualify, but the Celtics haven't exactly been diligent when it comes to closing things out when they have the chance.
“There were a few times last year where we kind of relaxed,” Tatum admitted after the game. “I would say after we beat Milwaukee in Game 4, we relaxed, came back, and lost Game 5, we were up 13 in the fourth and that came back to bite us, right? We had to go win two in a row. Winning Game 5 in Miami last year, coming back and relaxing a little bit, instead of feeling like our backs were against the wall. Lost, had to go win Game 7.”
The Celtics showed a maturity level in this game that might just be the sign that those relaxing days are over. De’Andre Hunter roasted the Celtics for 27 points over the first three quarters, giving the Hawks a chance to stick around and maybe steal this game. But he didn’t score over 10:48 in the fourth quarter. The Hawks got the lead down to four or five points at six different points in the final quarter, and each time Boston answered. When the Celtics did miss, they got three offensive rebounds to extend possessions and score six second-chance points.
“This could possibly be our last chance having this opportunity,” Smart said. “Last year taught us that. You don't get blessed or lucky too many times, and you got to grasp it and take full advantage of it and don't leave anything on the court.”
They maybe lost sight of that lesson during parts of the regular season. We know they haven't been perfect, but they were given plenty of chances to cough this game up and they never did. They had plenty of chances to relax up double digits and let the Hawks' runs get out of control, but the Celtics kept the game in check.
Maybe they did learn their lesson from last year’s playoff run after all.
Of course, this is a perpetual ‘what have you done lately’ world where every accomplishment is fleeting and praise can turn into criticism in a blink. It was nice to see the Celtics hold off a pesky Hawks squad to take the 3-1 lead. Now they just need to prove themselves by taking care of business Tuesday night.
“(We’re) trying not to make it tougher on ourselves, not relaxing,” Tatum said. “Damn near go in there with the mindset that we down 3-1 and we and we gotta win, than thinking that it's over and they gonna give up.
“Because they're not. They're a great, really well-coached team. They got great players and they got a lot of pride. So go in there with the mindset that we gotta win to survive, and just be aware of learning from our mistakes from last year that kind of made the road a little bit tougher for us. I think we’ll be ready.”
