Jaylen Brown returned from injury to score 21 points, a much-needed good sign from the struggling Boston Celtics guard. The Celtics need Brown to deliver to be their best.
On Thursday, Jaylen Brown returned to the Boston Celtics lineup and scored a season-high 21 points in a 128-100 win.
It was a promising sign from a player who has faced the greatest adversity of his young career early in the season.
After exploding onto the NBA scene in his sophomore season before averaging 18 points per game in Boston’s deep playoff run last year, Brown spent the offseason working hard on his game and expected to expand his role this season.
With Gordon Hayward coming back, and coach Brad Stevens allowing him to work through some early-season kinks, that expanded role hasn’t happened for Brown. Instead, his minutes and numbers are down across the board and he’s shooting less than 25 percent from three.
It must have be difficult for Brown to fight his ambition to do more, while his young counterpart, Jayson Tatum, sees his minutes, points, shots, and usage rate increase across the board. Tatum was given a lot of leeway early in the season to figure out the limits of his powers, with some bumpy results at times, while Brown was expected to fill much the same role he did last season.
Here at Hardwood Houdini, author Travis Babcock wrote an article Is It Time To Consider Trading Jaylen Brown? which got a heavy but mixed response. Some loved Brown and thought he was too valuable to move, while others were sick of his poor play and felt like he might be the odd man out with all of the Celtics top level talent.
While Brown has certainly disappointed, it was great to see him embrace a role off the bench and respond with his best game of the season. Brown and Hayward looked great playing together in the second unit with Hayward handling the playmaking responsibilities.
As bad as Brown has been, he’s bound to turn it around soon. He’s a 21 year old who has improved at every step of his career and works hard at his craft. The shots will start falling and the confidence will return.
On Thursday, we saw a glimpse of how important Brown can be to Boston. Here are three reasons why Jaylen Brown is still crucial to the Celtics championship hopes.