Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Deep impact: Brown shines
There was a time when the narrative surrounding Jaylen Brown was that he was a redundant player on a Celtics team shaping its identity around budding superstar Jayson Tatum.
Though he was a recent All-Star on a team packed with young, homegrown talent, Brown was considered by outsiders to be a potential trade chip the Celtics could use to adjust a roster that didn’t get past the conference finals in his first five seasons.
Cries to jettison the third overall pick of the 2016 draft only grew louder after a tepid 18-21 start to this season under new coach Ime Udoka that had veteran Marcus Smart calling out the Celtics’ young stars. Six months and a run to the NBA Finals later, Mr. Expendable is suddenly Mr. Indispensable as the Celtics pursue their 18th championship.
“It’s hard for me to reflect on moments when I’m in the heart of the storm,” Brown said. “But everything, all the adversity, all the ups and downs and negative things, indirectly and directly, has helped build me to where I’m at.”
Brown is averaging a team-best 22.7 points and 7.3 rebounds through the first three games of the Finals. He delivered probably his best performance of the playoffs — 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists — as the Celtics beat the Warriors 116-100 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 was not completed by press time.
His 17-point first quarter set the tone for the Celtics’ attack, but Udoka said Brown’s game has evolved on both ends.
“The versatility he gives us on the defensive end, is what it is. I think that goes trickle-down with Marcus and our bigs as well as our big wings,” Udoka said. “We’re asking (for) more communication, more recognition, and he is one of the guys that’s improved throughout the season as far as that.”
While Brown has been locked in during the playoffs, Tatum said he and Brown knew there were questions about whether they could coexist after the team’s slow start. He said they’ve figured out how to meld their their skillsets and personalities.
“I think all of those things helped, from saying that we need to split the group up, get rid of somebody or me and JB can’t play together,” Tatum said after the Celtics beat the Heat to win the Eastern Conference title. “That fueled us to figure it out and not run from it . ... That we trust in each other and we had to be better.”
Under the tutelage of Udoka and his staff, both players have learned to play off their teammates more.
Tatum has steered away from his past tendencies of relying on isolation and jump shots.
Instead, he’s using the double teams he draws to shuffle the ball to Brown and others to share the scoring load.
Brown, too, has morphed his game. Against the Warriors in particular, he’s been slashing inside, finding mismatches and picking his spots against the Warriors’ small lineups.
On Jan. 31, at the start of Boston’s late-season turnaround, Brown tweeted, “The energy is about to shift.”
Given his recent performance, his words are looking less cryptic and more prophetic.