The Boston Celtics have had a weird week, losing three games in a row to the Jazz (understandable), the Kings (hmm), and the Cavs (uh oh) in quick succession.
Head coach Brad Stevens, meanwhile, was forced to deny he had interest in returning to college for the vacant Indiana position.
Today, with the Orlando Magic visiting Boston, the Celtics broke their mini-losing streak in fairly definitive fashion, winning 112-96. How’d they do it?
Two words: Jaylen Brown.
Jaylen Brown vs. the Magic
34 PTS 4 REB 3 AST 1 STL 12-24 FG 10-17 3PT Finally a win!! #BleedGreen pic.twitter.com/mK561P8az8
— CS (@CullerSports) March 21, 2021
Brown went absolutely nuts today from beyond the arc, hitting 10 threes en route to 34 points, tacking on four rebounds, three assists, and a steal for good measure.
If you’re wondering whether there’s already a supercut compilation of Brown draining threes, you won’t be disappointed!
Special mention is deserved for his ninth bomb, though. He basically runs through some mixtape-worthy dribble moves in front of a helpless and/or hapless Nikola Vucevic, going from the left wing to a right-wing stepback in a flash, and then just pulls right in his face:
Yeah, if you’re doing that in a game, there’s not much anyone can do to stop it. The win pulls the Celtics back to .500 on the season, at 21-21.
That’s not great, of course, and they’re clearly not having the season they’d want to. But in the muddled, jumbled, scrambled, pick-another-synonym Eastern Conference race this season, it means they’re just a game out of the #4 seed and (barring a bubble) home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Of course, it also means they’re just two games ahead of the 10th place Bulls.
In other words, every game matters, and if the Celtics seeding or even postseason eligibility comes down to one game at the end of the year, it’s performances like this from Jaylen Brown that should be remembered.