Jaylen Brown turns down Thunder’s explanation for his ugly second half

As the Boston Celtics’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder kicked off on Sunday afternoon, both sides were going back and forth. Boston pulled ahead in the second quarter, but by the time the end of the third quarter rolled around, the Thunder had fought all the way back.

Oklahoma City’s rock-solid defense completely disrupted Boston’s offensive flow. Their three-point shot was brutal all night long, but in the first half, they got carried by an elite performance from Jaylen Brown. Unfortunately, Brown followed up a red-hot first half with an ice-cold second half, as the Thunder turned up their defensive pressure.

That, and they made one major change.

Jaylen Brown doesn't think it was all Lu Dort

After the game, when asked about the Thunder’s ability to silence Brown in the second half, head coach Mark Daigneault’s reason was simple: “We moved Dort on him,” he said.

Lu Dort is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. A big-bodied wing, Dort makes his money with impressive defense and hustle, and he got the Brown assignment after halftime.

But while Daigneault believes that’s what happened, Brown has a different thought.

When asked about the notion that Dort was the reason for his slow second half, Brown turned it down, pushing back and giving a broader answer.

“I feel like he was guarding me in the first half as well — I just think they switch a lot,” Brown said via Noa Dalzell of SB Nation. “I just think our spacing wasn’t great in the second half. They close those gaps, they send guys. We didn’t have great spacing offensively, so it made it harder to make those reads and those passes. 

“I feel like it’s more on us — we just got to be better in those moments. But if you put everybody in space, and we get to our spots with our shooting ability, it makes it hard.”

In the first half, Brown had 21 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor. But in the second, he didn’t score a single point, grab a single reason, or dish out a single assist. He shot 0-of-7 from the field.

Brown couldn’t have been any colder in the second half of the game, and there’s no denying that Dort is a top-tier NBA defender. But evidently, Brown doesn’t see him as the sole reason for his rough end to the afternoon.

Daigneault and the Thunder, on the other hand, have a different idea.