The Boston Celtics are, needless to say, the reigning NBA champions, and thus the path to the title by definition has to go through them first.
However, both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder are real threats, and for Boston that means the clock is ticking in regards to getting Jaylen Brown back on track.
Efficiency woes
Brown, despite being named an All-Star this season, has not had a season that's lived up to his otherwise high standard of play.
The 6'6 wing is sporting an eFG% of just 51.2 on the year, his worst scoring efficiency since his rookie season. This goes very much hand-in-hand with the fact that he's currently hitting his three-pointers at just 32.1% accuracy, the lowest of his career, despite Boston's reliance on the shot.
He's been his usual self when pressuring the rim, scoring on 74.1% of his shots near the basket, but his at-rim frequency has dropped this season, which in turn has made his game more perimeter-oriented, which negates some of his biggest strengths.
Boston has enjoyed success with their bombardement of three-pointers this season, as they're leading the league in both makes and attempts, but you have to wonder if their outside focus has come a bit at the expense of Brown, and maybe even Jayson Tatum.
Still time to adjust
This isn't to say Brown has outright struggled. He's still scoring 23.3 points per game this season, and has added 6.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists for good measure.
However, the Celtics found something near the end of the regular season last year, when they turned Brown into more of a play finisher, and relinquished some of his on-ball creation duties.
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They used a similar approach in the playoffs, with used more so as a scoring threat, than as a do-it-all table-setter. It helped them win a title, so it's curious to see the Celtics pivot away from that this season, especially when Brown isn't excelling in this expanded playmaking role.
There's still time left in the regular season to make adjustments, of course. Head coach Joe Mazzulla is surely aware of how to use his core, so this might simply be a new approach which he deems to be better for their future results.
By all intents and purposes, that's fine. But Brown's lack of rhythm offensively does seem to play a role in Boston occasionally struggling against good teams.
The 28-year-old has not played well against the Thunder this season, and outside of a recent 37-point explosion against the Cavs, he's also not been his usual self against them, totaling 33 total points over the course of two games.
From the outside, it appears that Brown's role is in need of becoming more streamlined.
When he's in attack mode, Brown is usually one of the most explosive offensive players in the NBA, and we need only go back two seasons to see him spread his scoring wings, when he averaged 26.6 points over the course of a full season, and did so with perfectly fine efficiency.
It'll be interesting to see if Mazzulla sticks with the current recipe, or if he'll tinger with Brown's role before they enter the postseason.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats viaNBA.com,PBPStats,Cleaning the Glass orBasketball-Reference. All salary information viaSpotrac. All odds courtesy ofFanDuel Sportsbook.