Boston Celtics legend Kevin Garnett was loving Jaylen Brown’s brilliant performance in the Celtics’ win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday night.
Brown dropped 40 points in a scintillating outing, going 14-for-27 from the floor, 4-of-10 from three-point range and making eight of his 11 free-throw attempts. He added five rebounds and a couple of assists in the win.
It was just the latest terrific showing in what has been a postseason full of them for Brown. In Boston’s Game 1 win, Brown scored 26 points and sent the affair into overtime with a three-pointer. He is averaging 24.8 points and 6.5 rebounds over 36 minutes per game in these playoffs while posting 54.4/36.5/63.5 shooting splits.
If anyone knows about playoff success in Beantown, it’s Garnett, who won a championship and made two NBA Finals appearances as a member of the Celtics. Many feel that Garnett actually should have beaten out Paul Pierce for Finals MVP in 2008, thanks much in part to his masterful performance in Boston’s finals-clinching Game 6 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
These Celtics still have a long way to go to match those KG-led squads, but with the way things are looking now, Brown and Co. may very well end up hanging another banner in the rafters of TD Garden next month.
Brown felt he should have made one of the All-NBA teams. He didn’t. To make matters worse, the player who made the All-NBA Third Team ahead of Brown—Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton—was playing across from him on Thursday evening.
Clearly, Brown took exception and had arguably the best game of his career in guiding the Celtics to a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Not only was Brown terrific offensively, but he was also outstanding on the defensive end, as well.
The three-time All-Star registered 23 points, 5.5 boards, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals across 33.5 minutes a night during the regular season, shooting 49.9 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from long range and 70.3 percent from the charity stripe.
He had a serious argument to make the All-NBA Third Team over Haliburton, who recorded 20.1 points per game but also led the league with 10.9 assists. The issue with Haliburton is that he is not a very good defender, while Brown is certainly a two-way player.
Brown insisted after the game that he does not care about his All-NBA snub.
“I mean, we’re two games away from the finals, so honestly, I don’t have the time to give a (expletive),” Brown said, via Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston.
Obviously, Brown should not need any extra motivation at this point of the season. The Celtics are playing for a championship; not All-NBA selections. But it is entirely possible that Brown did have a little bit more of a fire lit underneath him heading into Game 2. Professional athletes are hyper competitive, and they will positively utilize anything they see as a slight.
It seems like Brown definitely channeled that energy in the best way possible on Thursday night.
The Celtics will look to remain undefeated on the road in the playoffs when they head to Indiana for Game 3 on Saturday evening.
