SAN FRANCISCO — Jaylen Brown spoke for the first time in then days. When he last addressed the media, he contested the notion that the Celtics didn’t fight in a bad loss to the Kings. The hits kept coming as the team nearly collapsed two days later against New Orleans, then suffered its worst loss of the season in Toronto. Brown looked out of it for much of the night.
He shot 38.8% from the field and 25% from three across those three games, and fell to 44.9% FG and 32% from three for the season after Saturday’s loss to Atlanta. Though inefficient (9-27 FG), Brown grew more involved in the offense that night, posting 24 points and eight assists after playing deeper into the first quarter.
Jayson Tatum played two stints, exiting the game halfway through the first, then returned after Brown reached nine minutes. The split between the superstars, which also occurred the night before against Orlando and after at the Warriors, gave both players about nine minutes in a shake-up from the previous rotation.
“It’s something me and Joe talk about,” Tatum said when asked by CLNS Media about the change. “For most of the season, I was playing the whole first quarter and the third, and then we had a talk of change, dynamics change, KP came back, what’s best for our team, me starting the fourth quarter or whatever, and all of us have just gotta be open-minded. It can fluctuate throughout the season, and knowing that you’re gonna play 34-35 minutes, it all ends up the same. Patterns change, but you just gotta be open-minded to that.”
Brown expressed multiple times to begin the season that shifting away from playing full first quarters, his typical role across multiple seasons before this, was an adjustment. He repeated those comments on Monday after getting back on track as the Celtics’ primary finisher attacking Steph Curry inside. Brown scored 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting, taking on three shots from deep, and Joe Mazzulla praised his physicality while posting-up. While Brown’s efficiency dropped to the lowest point since his rookie season into the second half of the schedule, his shots and scoring remained on par with last year and his assists increased.
He previously explained that the new rotations placed him into more of a playmaking role, with his 4.8 assists per game and 21.7 AST% both shattering his previous career highs. His turnover rate increased by roughly one percentage point, but remained in line with his career average. Mazzulla’s adjustment followed a fourth quarter at Toronto that began with a 9-2 Raptors run with Tatum off the floor for the first four minutes. When he returned, he didn’t attempt a shot for the rest of the night.
“I think just continuing to use the versatility of our team,” Mazzulla said on why he made the change. “Especially when we’re fully healthy. Being able to get to different stuff that we can do. The guys do a great job of making sure that it’s connected to the matchups and how teams are defending us, but it’s just a different way for us to play, especially when we’re fully healthy.”
Tatum also mentioned that the switch away from coming out six minutes into the first took some getting used to on his part. It seemed to power his MVP-level charge to open the season, starting on Opening Night, when the Celtics first went to that rotation, and it allowed him to build and carry early momentum in games. It also allowed Tatum to set the tone for the team when his usage level increasingly correlates with their success.
Yet the Celtics struggled with starts for much of the first half, saved by Payton Pritchard and the bench on many nights. Then, when Kristaps Porziņģis returned, the starting lineup from last regular season went through a bizarre stretch of losing minutes through their first 10 games together.
That turned against Orlando and the Warriors with some help from the new substitution wrinkle. Whatever displeasure Brown felt in his previous role became the only known sign of discontent within the team through their uneven first half. Mazzulla’s adjustment gave hope for some smoother sailing for the Celtics’ two stars going forward — though they could both benefit from playing off each other more in their overlapping minutes, averaging roughly 7.9 passes to each other per game this month. They typically share 10-11.
“You could say that,” Brown said when asked if the new lineups helped him. “I feel like I’m usually the one to set the tone for the team, so sometimes not being out there when we have a sluggish start, I feel like at different times in my career, that’s been me to help negate that. But different year, things get switched up, you just gotta be alright with that. I don’t really complain or anything. I just try to come out and be the best version of myself.”
