Afternoon games in the NBA are always wonky. Players can’t get into their normal routines. No one has taken their afternoon naps. No one remembers to say “today” instead of “tonight.”
It’s a mess.
And so it was understandable that “first quarter Jaylen” was late to the game, forcing Jaylen Brown to take over the second quarter instead of the first. In fact he scored 26 in the second and fourth quarters, not his usual domain, on his way to 31 points and a Celtics blowout.
“I’m just a basketball player. I’m a do-whatever-the-team-needs kind of guy,” Brown said “First quarter, fourth quarter, I just take advantage of the opportunities I get, make the right reads, and if I get in a rhythm at any point in the game it can just add to the success.”
Brown has been adding to a lot of success recently. Brown is no longer in the figuring out phase of this season. It’s been figured out.
It took Brown a little longer to get here, probably because he might have had the toughest adjustment on the team. The Celtics added Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White is playing out of his mind right now. Jayson Tatum’s role was never really going to change, so the biggest evolution had to come from Brown.
“It’s a lot clearer that I don’t need to score 30 points a game,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that can put the ball in the cup and are playing well. So making sure I make the right plays and the right reads. It’s helped me see the game a lot differently than before where I’ve been asked to score the ball. So I think it for sure has made me a better basketball player but also my role is a little different than it’s been over the years as well.”
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Brown is 27, in his absolute athletic prime, coming off a second-team All-NBA season. He’s now Boston’s longest-tenured Celtic. If anyone had a case to stick with doing what he’s always done and telling someone else to do the adjusting it’s him.
“We all talk about sacrificing and it's not easy,” Jayson Tatum said after the game. “To kind of take a, I don't wanna say step back, but you know, obviously, in points and things like that, and usage or whatever. Just to do all of that so we can have a better chance to win, and knowing that we've added some guys on the team that can help us in those situations, I think it's gonna pay off in the long run. And being on a great team, I think for us being so close these last two years and coming up short, we all understand that we're willing to do whatever it takes to get over that hump.”
It really is the little things in Brown’s game … very simple looking things that might go unnoticed … that really highlight how far he’s come. Inviting the double team in a pick-and-roll to give his teammate more space is a pretty big deal. It’s very much like a quarterback waiting that extra tick on a screen play so his receiver has more open field. It’s uncomfortable, but that extra second could be what leads to a big play.
And then there's something like this.
I still can’t believe Brown didn’t try to take it in on Paolo Banchero to try for another poster dunk. Brown has a long list of victims as it is, and some of his best were on this same Orlando team two nights ago. Banchero is a high-profile target and Brown is a high-profile dunker with space to take off.
But he made the simple, easy play. Holiday got a nice, lightly contested layup out of it. Boston got to get back on defense and set themselves, Holiday got points, Brown got the assist. Joe Mazzulla has been telling everyone to make the right reads and to not chance it on contested plays at the rim, and Brown did what he was asked.
“Jaylen has really grown as a player,” Mazzulla said. “What he did in the fourth quarter was just playmaking, making the right play — whether it was passing or scoring, getting to his spot, and it's been really fun to watch him grow as a player this year, and our team, our team's mindset.”
All he did in the fourth quarter was drop 17 points and 2 assists, accounting for 23 of Boston’s 31 points. Orlando scored 23 as a team. On a night where Tatum wasn’t his usual self, Brown stepped in to be the closer.
“It’s great. And through the course of a long season, I think that's the benefit of being on a really talented team like we are,” Tatum said. “Like Joe says, on any given night it’s going to be a different one or two guys. And I think it's a product of why, you know, we're 20-5. That's the luxury that we have. We just have so many talented guys that can get it going on any given night.”
Brown’s evolution is part of why I think this 20-5 is different than last year’s similar start. Last year’s team started out hot. This year’s is starting out dominant. It took Brown a little while to get on the same page as everyone, but now he’s here and he’s back to his All-NBA self, without having to just be a scorer.
“For this team I’ve been more of a playmaker,” Brown said. “Not just passing but screening, cutting, and less of a scorer, and just being a basketball player. So it’s added to my game and I’m looking forward to the future.”