Jaylen Brown was quite efficient vs. the 76ers, and you could tell from the tip he was willing to be aggressive
When Boston's threes weren't falling, Brown attacked the paint for a season-best 31-point performance.
Jaylen Brown had the third-most efficient shooting night of his career on Tuesday, pouring in 31 points on 11-14 shooting from the field.
The only other games in which Brown scored more than 30 points and shot a higher percentage than Tuesday’s mark were both in 2021. Brown scored 31 against the Pistons on 13-of-16 shooting, and dropped 40 points on the Lakers while going 17-of-20 from the field during that season.
Brown’s aggressiveness was noticeable from the start in Boston’s 117-99 win against Philadelphia at TD Garden.
Early in the second quarter, Brown sent Nicolas Batum leaping past with a shot fake. Batum recovered and blocked Brown’s 15-foot fadeaway, but on the next possession, Brown caught a pass from Al Horford just inside the 3-point line, took one dribble, and went right through Batum for a layup while getting fouled on the play.
“He’s just always in attack mode, and I love what Jaylen is doing,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I love the work he is putting in. I love the poise that he’s playing with on the offensive end. I love the way he’s getting different baskets, whether it’s handling or in transition or the poise he’s playing with in the post. He’s really reading the game and taking advantage of it.”
It’s not often that an opponent attempts 20 more 3-pointers than the Celtics. On Tuesday, Philadelphia fired up 42 shots from beyond the arc compared to Boston’s 22. The Celtics knew early on that outside shots weren’t falling, and sensed they could attack the paint with injured center Joel Embiid unavailable for Philadelphia.
Brown reached a team-high 31-points by finding different ways to score in the paint. He posted up Kyle Lowry and sunk a hook shot over him. He scored in transition, hitting fastbreak layups off assists and a steal of his own. He slashed to the rim consistently. All but two of his shot attempts were in the paint.
“I think part of my job, my responsibility is to get into the paint to collapse the defense to make sure we get open looks,” Brown said. “So, sometimes I’ll pass up threes to get a paint touch because we need a little bit more else to help our three-point shooting even more. So, a lot of times, I’ll take it upon myself to try to get into the paint even if I do have a wide open shot because I know if the defense collapses then we’ll be able to get some open threes down the line.”
Although he had an efficient shooting night, Brown had four turnovers against just one assist. Charging fouls can be a byproduct of an aggressive approach, and Brown was whistled for two in the first half. Boston had 14 turnovers compared to Philadelphia’s nine.
But the Celtics were able to take advantage of Embiid’s absence. Boston won the rebounding battle, 56-28, and blocked nine shots. The Celtics attacked the rim and made 34 of 37 free-throw attempts.
“This game was probably one of our best games of the year, from the standpoint of being able to win in a different way,” Mazzulla said. “This game showed a template of how teams are going to guard us and it gives us another thing to practice.”
“They switched, and tried to take away threes, and forced us to play dribble drive,” Mazzulla added. “As long as you take care of the ball, play physical, don’t turn the ball over, and get to the free-throw line, we were really-really efficient in the paint. Once we were able to take away their multiple shot possessions and get the certain guys that we wanted to shoot contested then it kind of evens itself out.”
Brown said unlocking more ways to win helps keep the team motivated as it looks to maintain its position atop the Eastern Conference standings and prepare for the playoffs.
“Just finding different ways to win, our core details that we emphasize, making sure that’s maintained,” Brown said. “Taking care of the basketball, playing defense, guarding and just taking away scouting report type stuff. That’s it. Day in and day out. Play intentional basketball, keep building chemistry, and keep moving towards the best version of ourselves.”
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