Jaylen Brown put on a show in front of his hometown fans on Saturday night, helping lead the Celtics to a runaway win over the Hawks in Atlanta.
The Georgia native erupted for a game-high 41 points in the Celtics’ blowout 132-106 victory over the Hawks, making him Saturday’s “Name to Know” Player of the Game. The Name to Know Player of the Game is [sponsored by John’s Sewer and Drain Cleaning, the Name to Know when your drains don’t flow](https://johnsewer.com/?utm_source=mlm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mlm_local_site_articlesponsor_celtics_playerofgame&utm_content=celtics).
Brown scored his 41 points in just 29 minutes as Joe Mazzulla sat his All-Star and most of Boston’s other starters for the entire fourth quarter in the dominant win. However, Brown made the most of his minutes in the performance, scoring in double digits in all three frames while shooting 14-of-30 from the field.
He also was nearly perfect at the free throw line (11-of-12) as he did virtually all of his damage from inside the arc. The Hawks had no wing defenders who could match Brown’s speed, size and strength so Brown regularly broke down Atlanta on his drives, leading to easy looks for him or open shots on the perimeter for his teammates.
Brown’s effort contributed to a historic night for Boston’s offense as they scored a season-high 82 points in the first half and matched the NBA record with 11 3-point makes in the second quarter.
It was the fifth 40-point performance of the season for Brown who now ranks fifth in the NBA in scoring this season with 29.4 points per game.
Brown and the Celtics will look to close out the road trip on a winning note Monday night with their toughest challenge on the four-game road swing, facing off against the top-seeded Pistons in Detroit.