BOSTON — On paper, Jaylen Brown played one of his best games of the season Sunday, erupting for 33 points, a season-high 13 rebounds and just one turnover in a 121-118 win over the Clippers. However, the Celtics star was not particularly pleased with his performance as Boston nearly blew a 24-point lead in an eventual three-point win over the reeling Clippers.
“I just think that defensively, we could have been a little bit better, and really just me,” Brown said. “My team counts on me to play a little bit better, and tonight, I didn’t really play that well. So I’m looking forward to the next two games to kind of bounce back, but a great win overall.”
Brown scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter to help put Boston in control before a late Clippers rally. Yet, it was Brown’s efficiency around the rim that left him lamenting his effort despite the impressive stat line.
“I got a bunch of good looks, I felt like, and I just missed a bunch of shots at the rim tonight, a bunch of layups,” Brown said. “I wonder how many layups I missed tonight. Just not a great game for me. Get some rest and get ready for the next one.”
The Celtics as a team missed 12 shots in the restricted area, something that was a point of contention
“Everyone thinks that the closer you get it, the easier that it is,” Joe Mazzulla said of the misses. “You have to be able to knock those down in a restricted area, and usually when you miss those, it starts a 5-on-4 at the other end, and you have a guy or two behind the defense. So I thought our reads were pretty good.
“We’ve got to be much better when we get the ball in the paint of making those, and then regardless, we’ve got to sprint back. So I thought we made some good reads. They forced us to play in the seam a little bit. Neemi made some good plays on both ends, but we have to be great. We’ve got to be physical. We’ve got to be great in the restricted area, and then we’ve got to sprint back on defense.”
Brown was just 14-of-33 from the field in the victory but posted his seventh 30-point performance of the season in 14 games. He’s averaging 27.4 points per game while shooting a career-high 50.5 percent from the field. The all-around performance in the absence of Jayson Tatum earned him plenty of praise from Joe Mazzulla Sunday night despite Brown being his own toughest critic.
“The only thing he cares about is winning, and so he’s finding a great balance of putting us in position to win” Mazzulla said. “Empowering his teammates, and doing what he needs to do in games for us to give us a shot. 13 in the fourth quarter, at the same time, playing defense, getting steals. All he cares about is winning and going about it the right way, and that’s a credit to him.”
Brown will have another chance to put up big numbers on Tuesday night when they face the NBA’s worst defense in Brooklyn.
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