Celtic stars show true evolution
Tatum, Brown have upped their games
The Celtics clinched a spot in the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season after Thursday night’s win over the Suns, along with Philadelphia’s loss to Milwaukee.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have been in Boston together for seven of those seasons. They’ve never missed the playoffs. They’ve played in five conference finals and one NBA Finals. They’ve each made multiple All-Star appearances and signed nine-figure contracts.
But as much as they’ve accomplished, there is still one glaring omission on their basketball résumés: They’ve yet to bring home a championship.
Brown, who scored a team-high 37 points in Thursday’s win, told reporters he believes he’s playing the best basketball of his career. He said last year’s Game 7 loss to the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals motivated him to round out his game.
“People can go one or two ways,” Brown said. “For me, you see a lot of people when things don’t go their way or if they lose or make a mistake, or get embarrassed, it can be like a spirit breaker. Ain’t nothing in this world going to break my spirit.
“So, for me, there was only one way to go, and that was just to improve, just to get better and look at yourself in the mirror. Take whatever it is on the chin. I don’t make excuses. I don’t point fingers. That’s always been my mentality. So we just get better and leave it all out on the floor and live with those results.”
For Brown, that has meant slashing to the hoop with aggression, and bringing more consistent effort on the defensive end. He has been outspoken throughout the year about his goal of making the All-Defensive first team.
Celtics coach
Joe Mazzulla said Brown’s defense is helping his offensive game. An example came with 3:03 remaining in the fourth quarter against Phoenix, when Brown pounced on a Grayson Allen pass intended for Devin Booker and took off for a highlight-reel dunk before Allen could recover.
“I think he’s really taken a point of emphasis to just be a well-rounded player,” Mazzulla said. “I think everything with him starts with his defensive intensity, and I think guarding one of the other team’s best players and getting off to a great start on defense is kind of what gets him going. I think that’s big for our team.
“He’s doing a great job of the balance. He could score on anybody at any time, and he’s taken the ones early in the shot clock when he feels like he has an advantage. He slows down and is reading the game when he feels like he doesn’t. It’s been a huge growth for him and it’s a different layer for our team when he’s aggressive, especially when he’s getting to the free throw line.”
Tatum drilled four of his eight 3-point attempts, including a step-back 25-footer over Kevin Durant in the closing minute of the second quarter, en route to a 26-point performance with five rebounds and five assists.
Tatum is shooting 47.4 percent from the field this season, his best since his rookie year. He’s taking nearly two fewer shots per game than last year, but he’s become more efficient and finding shots for teammates. He’s averaging a career-high 4.9 assists.
“It’s been great,” Tatum said. “Just the progression over the years of getting better and getting better at reading the game, understanding how to play off of our teammates and picking our spots. Just trying to make the game easier for ourselves and everybody else.”
Mazzulla has noticed Brown and Tatum working hard on their mental games. Both were able to bait the Suns into double-teams that made looks for others, he said.
“They both have taken pride in that and have really worked to understand that,” Mazzulla said. “Just their patience, the balance of understanding where to go early in the shot clock, the balance of wanting to get to their spacing, the understanding of matchup recognition, coverage recognition, all those things go into it.”
As they prepare to embark on their seventh playoff run together, Brown and Tatum are more experienced than ever, and it shows. They’ve done enough to get their feet in the door. They know that they’re expected to kick it down and win a title this time.
“There’s a quote that I like: ‘When things don’t go your way, when you don’t get what you want, what you got was experience,’ ” Brown said. “I love that quote. I think that we’ve had embarrassment, we’ve had losses, we’ve had mistakes. I’ve used it all to just improve.”