Ahead pondering: Jaylen Brown dominates Sport 1 from begin

Simply seconds into Sport 1, Jaylen Brown needed to set the tone for the Celtics first-round sequence towards the Hawks, and hopefully, the remainder of what Boston believes might be an extended playoff run. Proper after the tip, Brown stole a routine move from Trae Younger to Dejounte Murray after which overpowered John Collins on the opposite finish.

“I used to be going loopy in my head. I used to be screaming like, ‘there you go. That’s what I’m speaking about,’” Marcus Sensible mentioned of Brown’s assertion play. “Jaylen can do a whole lot of issues, not simply rating the ball. He’s an incredible two-way participant and we’re going to wish that out of him. And to see how he was locked in and able to go, it was thrilling.”

He’s nonetheless sporting a masks after a pleasant hearth elbow from Jayson Tatum over two months in the past, however as robust as he’s performed during the last two months, perhaps it’s right here to remain. Brown would end the sport as Boston’s excessive scorer with 29 factors (12-of-23 from the sphere) and three assists.

After lacking the ultimate two video games of the common season with a land laceration, he picked up proper the place he left off. After main Workforce LeBron in scoring within the All-Star Sport, Brown mounted an All-NBA marketing campaign within the closing 20-plus video games averaging 27 factors and over six rebounds and 4 assists a recreation.

Brown admitted after the Sport 1 win that his finger remains to be a difficulty. “It’s a relentless adjustment ensuring I get an excellent grip on the ball,” Brown mentioned. “I had six turnovers tonight, so I positively obtained to wash that up.” In the course of the recreation, he left for the locker room briefly when the lower cut up open. He acquired 5 stitches on the finger and missed apply throughout early postseason prep.

“He was making an attempt to determine learn how to play with it at first. He needed to change his Bandaid, I consider,” head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “I believed he performed nicely. I believed his shot choice was good. I believed he was intentional on the defensive finish. I believed he did an incredible job on being locked in on each ends of the ground.”

It had been 303 days for the reason that Celtics misplaced Sport 6 of The NBA Finals on the parquet ground. That playoff run is formally within the rearview with this postseason now in full swing. It took an 82-game marathon of an everyday season to get right here and this crew is aware of all too nicely that one steal is only a steal and one win is only a win.

“Every recreation is its personal story. We anticipate to get their finest shot subsequent recreation. Can’t take a crew as a right,” Brown mentioned. “We allowed them to get slightly extra comfy within the second half. I anticipate the subsequent recreation for them to be slightly extra ready, so we obtained to be slightly extra ready as nicely.”

What’s going to hopefully be a relentless all through these subsequent few weeks and months is their mindset. After a couple of speedbumps tripped them up throughout the yr (that in the end price them the general #1 seed), Brown understands the urgency of the second.

“It’s a good time of the yr. It’s the time we’ve been fascinated with, ready round for. It was extraordinarily essential to set the tone right here on our residence ground opening up the playoffs. I believed we obtained off to an incredible begin within the first half. Second half, we took our foot off the fuel slightly bit, however we simply gotta proceed and play basketball for 48 minutes and proceed to construct good habits all through the playoffs.”