BOSTON — Jaylen Brown had raised his game during the Celtics homestand when opposing contenders had come to town prior to Wednesday’s matchup against the Thunder. That trend came to a dramatic halt in a 118-112 loss to Oklahoma City at TD Garden Wednesday night.
Brown struggled on both ends of the floor for much of the night, fouled out in 38 minutes while mustering just 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Defensively, he did little to slow down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander but it was a lack of offense from the All-Star that was flaring on a night where Boston’s offense sputtered in the second half.
When questioned about the off night on the heels of scoring 30-plus points against the Lakers and Cavaliers during this homestand, Brown shouldered the blame.
“I give credit to OKC,” Brown said of his performance. “Tougher team sets the rules. They had a good level of physicality tonight, and I could be more physical. I could use my body more, I settled in some spots, but I didn’t meet the level of physicality tonight. I had no free throw attempts, and that’s unusual. So just making sure you get your body healthy, etc. But, I didn’t meet the level of physicality tonight.”
Brown was listed on the injury report before the game with a knee issue but did not use his physical condition as an excuse.
“Tonight I felt better than I did over the last two weeks, to be honest,” Brown declared. “I felt my knee was -- I felt better than I have in a while. So I think I’m trending in the right direction.
“Just tonight, I had some open looks that didn’t go in, they were physical, I didn’t meet the level of physicality like I can. I had no free throw attempts. I could be more physical, make them call it or whatever. And then on defense, I couldn’t get anything going on either side of the ball tonight, so it was just one of them games.”
Brown’s struggles were apparent in particular from 3-point range where he went 0-of-5 from deep, continuing a drought dating back through the Jazz win. Brown is 0-of-10 from 3-point range in his last two games, a glaring stat on a night where Boston took a franchise record 3-point attempts.
“Yeah, they recover fast,” Brown said of the Thunder defense. “Even their guys that you would think that you can attack, put up a good fight and use physicality, so you gotta give credit to OKC. They’re well coached, they’re connected on defense, so you gotta play. You gotta play basketball, you gotta make plays, and that’s where you come in and just winning those matchups.
“Nothing you could draw up. I thought we got some good looks, I thought we had a good game plan. Just gotta win those matchups. We didn’t win them tonight. I didn’t win mine tonight, so, that cost us the game.”
Brown will get a day off to bounceback before a tough back-to-back in Miami and Brooklyn beginning on Friday in South Beach. Given his struggles and heavy minutes load on Wednesday night, it would be no surprise to see him rest for one of those matchups.
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