Jaylen Brown's Brilliance Wows NBA Twitter as Celtics Beat CJ McCollum, Pelicans
Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacek
Featured Columnist IVJanuary 12, 2023
The Boston Celtics keep winning.
Boston extended its winning streak to four and improved to an NBA-best 30-12 with a 125-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at TD Garden. New Orleans was without Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, and Jaylen Brown turned in a brilliant performance to ensure his team didn't drop a game it was expected to win.
Brown had a double-double by halftime and finished with 41 points and 12 rebounds on 15-of-21 shooting from the field.
Social media had nothing but praise for the 26-year-old:
Nick Galle @thenickgalleI've said it once and I'll say it again: <br><br>Jaylen Brown is far and away the best No. 2 in this league. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BleedGreen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BleedGreen</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Celtics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Celtics</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a>
The Celtics Files @CelticsFilesJaylen Brown is too strong and too fast for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pelicans?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pelicans</a> right now. JB is going to continue his takeover of this game into the fourth quarter for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Celtics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Celtics</a>
Boston is a championship contender in large part because of its one-two punch, and Jayson Tatum filled the stat sheet as well with 31 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Throw in Malcolm Brogdon providing a spark off the bench and Al Horford stabilizing the frontcourt, and the Celtics were fine, even without Marcus Smart.
Yet it was Brown who stole the show while the game was still hanging in the balance.
He reached into his bag of tricks offensively with physical drives to the basket, multiple three-pointers when given space and a handful of moves to create openings from mid-range. He also helped control the boards and assumed more of the scoring responsibilities when Tatum struggled from the field in the early going.
The Pelicans had no answer for Brown, especially when he took over the game by pouring in 18 points in the third quarter alone as the home team extended the lead to double digits and never looked back.
Tatum may be the MVP candidate, but the Celtics are seemingly unstoppable when Brown is as dialed in as he was Wednesday.
He and the rest of the team will look to keep things rolling Thursday in a highly anticipated showdown against the Brooklyn Nets.