Jaylen Brown Earns Role in Game One Drubbing
Jaylen Brown gives Brad Stevens something to work with amidst disastrous start to Eastern Conference Finals
The Boston Celtics went into game one coming off of the two biggest highs of the Brad Stevens era. A game seven victory followed by a win in the lottery is something teams are not supposed to experience. LeBron James felt that may have been a bit unfair, and brought the Celtics all the way back down to earth with a stark reminder of the reality of the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics did absolutely nothing to help their own cause, missing 10 wide open looks, both form beyond the arc and at the rim. The Celtics can come away from game one knowing their offense may not be that bad again, but that was not the biggest problem.
Kevin Love gave him plenty of help, but James dominated with such ease and there is no answer for him. The Celtics tried going with size on James, and he blew by them on every possession. Then they went with a bit more versatility, but settling for jumpers was no problem for him either.
When James plays like that it is hard to imagine anything being good enough to beat him, and with Love and Kyle Korver getting wide open on a regular basis, with Tristan Thompson being predictably dominant on the offensive glass, its not a surprise at all that the Cavaliers dominated wire to wire.
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Game one was a tough lesson in how much better everything has to be when going against the king, but there was at least one lone bright spot coming in the form of a 20 year old rookie. Jaylen Brown not only stepped up his game in a big way, but there’s a case to be made that he was the best player on the court for the Celtics for extended periods of time.
Brown was attacking and creating on the offensive end, generating all kinds of second chance opportunities, while providing the most decent resistance they had against James. The lesser of two evils is forcing James to become a jump shooter, and Brown was able to do that at times.
Maybe James was just coasting in a blowout victory with a 20 year old kid on him, but Stevens really does not have any better option right now. Brown may not be a game two starter, but he needs to be on the court as much as possible. he truly had the Celtics at their best in game one.
The Celtics will always change up how their attack James, but Brown needs to be a part of that equation now. Brown needs to be helping in their attempts to disrupt James, and he did a lot more than show good signs with that defense.
Brown lead the team in rebounding in just 20 minutes, which is a massive problem in itself. Brown has been an aggressive rebounder during these playoffs, and Thompson is the best offensive rebounder they have faced yet. The Cavaliers are too good to give extra opportunities. Even if they shoot better in the next game, getting killed on the boards is insurmountable.
Brown offers the Celtics a whole lot in this matchup, and he was too effective in game one to not get a bigger role in game two. It is a difficult thing to be +4 in a game where they were losing by 20 pretty much wire to wire, but it was clear that Brown was the only positive player for the Celtics.
Brown gave the team a spark and opened things up on both ends. He may not be making his teammates better yet, but in game one he certainly made things easier on them.
There are way too many problems that need fixing in game one, but Stevens can build on what Brown was able to do. Brown was blowing by Korver any time he tried to defend him, and always stays aggressive as a shooter. Brown is a player that the Cavaliers will not be helping on, and he could be one of the best matchups any time he is on the court.
Brown is a rookie and it may be unrealistic to expect him to be as effective as he was on game one, and it could have been a different story had it been a closer game. That being said, Stevens has to work with what he saw in game one, and Brown was the only player who elevated his play, and he did it every time he was on the court.
Brown has repeatedly shown the flashes, but in game one he brought the consistency that has been missing all season long. He has bee in and out of the rotation these playoffs, but now is going to be his best opportunity to carve out a top role off the bench, or maybe even an option in the starting lineup.
We know Stevens will not be afraid to make drastic changes, and game one was a clear message that Brown can do some damage to the Cavaliers, the question is going to be how much, but the bigger problem is whether it could possibly be enough to make a difference.