BOSTON — Jaylen Brown reflected on a fun season — filled with new opportunities, wins and personal growth he expects to continue into the late stages of this Celtics season. Monday’s win became the latest, not approaching the game differently, but playing aggressive enough to draw 21 free throws. A career-high that tied for 11th-most in Celtics history. Brown hit 19 of them, and scored 18 of the Celtics’ first 25 points in the fourth quarter as they flipped a late one-possessions deficit into one of the team’s best wins all season.
The MVP-caliber performances that became commonplace for Brown earlier this season as he ascended to among the league’s best players returned for the first time this year alongside Tatum. Previously, Brown absorbed a significant step back in scoring and shot attempts to accommodate Jayson Tatum’s return, falling from 28.9 points per game on 22.2 attempts per night to 18.3 PPG on 14.0 FGA through Tatum’s first three games back. After scoring 34 points to nearly beat the Thunder while Tatum rested, he scored 16 points in a 6-for-13 showing with Tatum back in the lineup two nights later.
“It takes humility. It takes some understanding,” Brown said when asked by CLNS Media about the new dynamic. “I think JT is extremely important to us for what we want to do. Obviously, I’m having a great season, but then I just have to think about the big picture. Sometimes it’s not easy, but I always put the team first and what the bigger picture is first. It’s kind of a feel thing, feel it out. It might take some time, when to be aggressive, how do teams guard? Re-assessing all that stuff is different, this team is different, but it’s been ok. We’ve found ways to win and we just gotta continue to do that. We got some games left. It’s not gonna be perfect. I think we could’ve won in a better facet tonight against the Suns, but it’s gonna take a little bit of that growth factor by the time we get to the playoffs. So I gotta be patient, everybody gotta be patient. This is not the best version that you are watching right now, so we just take it one day at a time.”
Joe Mazzulla stressed giving the game what it needs repeatedly through the full team’s early return to action, particularly urging Tatum to rely on more than his scoring. That led to per-minute box score showings in line with Tatum’s typical impact, despite his shooting efficiency falling far below his career average. That continued on Monday, when Tatum shot 8-for-18 from the field and 2-for-8 from three, finishing with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a steal before allowing Brown to take over in the fourth quarter.
The dynamic between the two stars, affirmed through trust and a championship, hasn’t changed from a strategic standpoint. Though Tatum remains limited from a minutes standpoint and continues to grow more comfortable with each game utilizing his athleticism and explosiveness, he’ll continue working his way toward his former self for much of the remaining regular season. That, naturally, allows Brown to maintain much of his high-usage role that trailed only Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Though as conversations around his MVP candidacy reached their height nationally, Brown could absorb a statistical hit late in the season that pulls from his case.
While he savored playing in a lead role he never had the chance to after Monday’s win, he prioritized winning and playing for the team, something he’s expressed throughout his career. Tatum, meanwhile, said they’ve learned through nearly one decade of experiences, conversations and games together how to play and win together.
“I’ve been able to be in the role where I can control things and everybody’s playing off me, I’ve been in those roles seldom over the years,” Brown said. “But this year, for an extended amount of time, I’ve been able to be in that position and honestly, I still feel like I have a lot of room to grow. Even now, over the last couple of games, I’ve adjusted my game and then I’m still continuing to get better, I think my play-making ability, seeing the floor, taking my time, all of that stuff is continuing to improve, but honestly, this is my first opportunity in my career where I’ve been able to do this for an extended period of time. Obviously, regardless, people are gonna have their critiques and their criticism, but it’s a completely different flow when people play off of you, or when you play off of others. It’s two completely different things. I know from people watching the game, you just think you just roll the ball out and everything’s supposed to work, great players are always supposed to fit together. But it doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes you gotta take a back seat, or sometimes you gotta play more off-ball, so everything shifts. But this year, I’ve been able to play at my own pace and I’ve been able to control my own destiny.”
Mazzulla didn’t downplay that balance when asked about allowing for opportunities like Brown’s 41 points against Phoenix to continue while also re-integrating Tatum. Following the latter’s debut, Mazzulla mentioned that the Celtics can’t have a lesser version of Tatum, and on Monday, he stressed Brown remaining aggressive, making leads and getting out in transition. That performance, he argued, showed his ability to do both. Brown also accomplished his season-long push to reach the free throw line more consistently, something Tatum commented after the game he forced the officials to hand him given his aggressiveness.
The dynamic will change every night, even within the flow of the game, Mazzulla said, mentioning that the Celtics’ offense and lineups changed toward things they didn’t discuss entering the game due to how the Suns pressure the ball and changed lineups. Boston briefly moved Tatum to center when Phoenix removed their center from the floor. And late, Brown drew the matchups repeatedly that powered one of his best performances of the year. Trailing by three late, he snuck behind Devin Booker’s back and made a game-changing steal, a risk the Celtics didn’t take in the past, and one that finished with a feed to Tatum on the break. Like old times, Tatum said later.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of that over the last nine years,” Tatum said. “Especially these last six. We’ve found a way to really complement each other on both ends of the floor and win a bunch of basketball games, and win a bunch of playoff series and a championship. So it’s just something we’ve been doing for a long time. Just getting a better understanding of each other, knowing what we need out of each other throughout the course of an 82-game season and long, deep playoff runs and just making the right plays over and over again.”
