Boston Celtics: Jaylen Brown’s time to be a star is now

Jaylen Brown has a golden opportunity to ascend to superstar status in the next two weeks with Jayson Tatum being absent for the Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics fans, let me take you down memory lane.

The year was 2018. After acquiring Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward the summer prior, the Celtics were marching into the playoffs as the #1 seed…but with Al Horford as their best player due to injuries to Danny Ainge’s cursed 2017 offseason haul.

Or so we thought.

A young Boston trio, with moxie and defiance defining their run, marched to the Eastern Conference Finals to take on the mighty LeBron James–who was coming off of three straight trips to the NBA Finals and a 2016 NBA Championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While it wasn’t the strongest team the “king” had played on (or even close to it), the Cavaliers were the Goliath to Boston’s David. The reason why?

Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier was the aforementioned young Boston trio.

We know how history unfolded, with James ultimately outdueling the Cs core to go on to get brutally swept by the Golden State Warriors. That was truly the last season of NBA inevitability because even if you find the Los Angeles Lakers to be the predictable champion of last season and (hopefully not) this one, you didn’t predict that the team would be celebrating in front of no fans.

Anyways, I took you down memory lane because at this moment in time, we are set to experience a similar “rise to the occasion” situation…though on a much smaller scale.

Because of COVID-19-related concerns, Jayson Tatum has been placed in the health and safety protocols for the league:

"Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is now the latest player within the organization who will be required to enter quarantine, which will have him sidelined for 10-to-14 days, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. That brings the total number of Celtics players in quarantine up to four, after the team announced on Friday that Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams and Grant Williams will all be required to self-isolate for a minimum of seven days due to the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols. Robert Williams reportedly tested positive for the virus and has been asymptomatic, while Grant Williams and Thompson are being told to quarantine for contact tracing, per The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach."

The absence of Thompson and the Williams duo created an opening for Tacko Fall to rise last night. Now, with Tatum and his 27 points per game missing for the next seven-to-eight games, Brown has the chance to become a superstar now.

He has excelled when the Cs were missing their best player before. The Houdini sees no reason why he can’t do so again.