Jaylen Brown rose above the Clippers' Kawhi Leonard and everyone else in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday night, tying his career high with 50 points despite sitting out the final 3:44 of a blowout victory.
Jaylen Brown rose above the Clippers' Kawhi Leonard and everyone else in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday night, tying his career high with 50 points despite sitting out the final 3:44 of a blowout victory.Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Jaylen Brown has been vocal of late about a perceived lack of respect from his critics and from media, especially this week, when he was passed on for Eastern Conference Player of the Month in favor of New York’s Jalen Brunson.
Brown allowed his game to do the talking on Saturday in Intuit Dome, putting together a masterful offensive show in the bright lights of Hollywood. With 3:50 left, a Celtics-centric crowd was cheering for Brown to get one final bucket.
He obliged, hitting a floater in the lane for his 50th point as the Celtics completely obliterated the Clippers in the final period for a 146-115 win.
Boston ended the game on a 50-25 run, with Brown dazzling the crowd with an array of jumpers, attacks on the rim, and 3-pointers. Derrick White helped out with 29 points, Anfernee Simons scored 15, and Jordan Walsh added 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Celtics ended their road trip 4-1.
The Celtics were focused on containing Kawhi Leonard (22 points), who averaged 39 in his previous six games, including a 55-point outing against the Pistons. They also used multiple defenders on the crafty James Harden, who is capable of big scoring games. The trade off was allowing forward John Collins to roam free; he responded with 20 first-half points on 8-for-9 shooting and three 3-pointers.
The Clippers shot 53.2 percent in the first half and made 8 of 20 threes. The Celtics countered against one of the league’s top defenses with 53.2 percent shooting and 12 3-pointers. White, who has been slow in first halves of late, tallied 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
Brown defended Leonard from the opening tip — an assignment he likely asked for — and still managed to score 20 first-half points. Boston led by as many as 16, but the Clippers used a flurry from Leonard and Collins to slice their deficit to 71-63 at half.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 19 points for Los Angeles, but left the game with an ankle injury.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.