Jaylen Brown’s mindset after 41-point outburst is a great sign for Celtics
Jaylen’s mindset after 41-point outburst is a great sign for Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Amid all of the Jayson Tatum MVP talk, Jaylen Brown continues to remind everyone that he’s also one of the NBA’s best players.
Brown stole the spotlight Wednesday night at TD Garden, amassing a career-high 41 points with 12 rebounds against the New Orleans Pelicans to power the Boston Celtics to a 125-114 win.
The 26-year-old was uber-efficient, hitting 15 of 21 shots and going 3 of 6 from 3-point range to become just the fourth player in the NBA this season to record at least 40 points and 10 rebounds while shooting at least 70 percent in a game. He’s also just the sixth Celtics player with multiple 40-point, 10-rebound games to his name, joining some elite company.
Brown is now averaging 27.2 points per game (12th in the NBA) on 49.8 percent shooting, the sixth-best mark in the league among guards. He’s shot better than 50 percent in six of his last nine contests and has scored 20-plus points in all but five games this season.
That level of consistency is something Brown has strived for this season — and something the Celtics have lacked at times, as evidenced by their embarrassing 150-117 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder last Tuesday. But Brown’s postgame comments suggest a lesson was learned from that ugly defeat.
“As we progress, I think the message is that comfort will kill you,” Brown said. “These teams are not waiting around for us to just let us win the game. You have to go out and prove it every single night. Success is earned every single night.”
For the Celtics to reach new heights, Brown said, they need to “get out of the mindset of being comfortable.” While the C’s have let their guard down at times this season — six of their 12 losses have come against teams below .500 — they appear to have taken Brown’s words to heart, winning four straight after their loss to OKC.
That Brown is intent on setting the tone is a great sign for the Celtics. While Al Horford and Malcolm Brogdon are the team’s elder statesmen, Brown and Tatum (who added 31 points of his own Wednesday) are still their on-court leaders, and if they play with the edge we saw Wednesday night, the C’s are very difficult to beat.
“I don’t think this is the best you will see,” Brown said when asked about the growth of himself and Tatum. “I definitely think we’ve got other limits to reach in the future in our career.
” … But right now, we’ve got to focus on what’s in front of us and that’s taking care of business and getting back to the Finals.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
