Jaylen Brown Adds To All-Star Resume With Monster Performance On Christmas Day
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Christmas Day is a day of giving, and on Wednesday, Jaylen Brown gave everyone in the NBA reason to believe that he's an All-Star. The Celtics guard firmly took hold of the National TV spotlight and didn't let go, leading the Celtics to a rare victory in Toronto.
Brown was a force for Boston in Wednesday's 118-102 win over the Raptors, scoring 30 points on an incredibly efficient afternoon, hitting 10 of his 13 shots overall and 5 of his 7 from three-point range. The 23-year-old became the youngest Celtics player to drop 30 on Christmas Day, besting the performance of a 24-year-old Bill Russell back in 1958.
Wednesday's victory snapped an eight-game Toronto losing streak for Boston, the team's first win north of the border since April of 2015. Brown was just a senior in high school the last time the Celtics were victorious in Toronto.
Boston fans are well aware of what Jaylen Brown brings to the floor every night, a solid two-way game with the occasional offensive outburst. His performances have just gotten better and better as the season has progressed, but the fourth-year wing tends to take a backseat to the likes of Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward on the national level. His nightly output is occasionally just an afterthought for those outside of Boston.
That's why there was so much pause and criticism when Danny Ainge refused to give Brown up in a potential Kawhi Leonard trade last season, and again when Ainge gave Brown a four-year, $115 million extension before the season. The Leonard argument will go one for some time, but that extension is making more and more sense with every monster performance by Brown this season. He's now averaging 20.2 points per game for the season -- joining Walker and Tatum on the Boston roster -- and has dropped 20 or more points in seven of his last 10 contests.
Brown's star is shining bright lately, and it was shining brightest when the C's held the spotlight on Wednesday afternoon, kicking off the NBA's annual Christmas Day slate. What made his Wednesday performance so impressive was Brown broke out his full bag of tricks, hitting shots from everywhere on the floor. He was locked in from mid-range and long distance. He was on the attack in the paint and sought contact, earning six trips to the free throw line (he hit five of them, with his confidence at the line at an all-time high). His complete game was all on display for the national NBA audience to see.
When Brown is oozing with confidence, there is very little an opposing defense can do to stop him. Look no further than his final bucket of the third quarter, an absolutely filthy stepback where he shook Patrick McCaw out of his sneakers before draining the turnaround with the shot clock winding down:
That obscene bucket capped off a 16-point third quarter for Brown, as he made all five shots he took in the frame, including all three of his bids from three-point range.
"I was just trying to be efficient," Brown said after his performance -- his third 30-point night of the season. "I think that was the goal – just being aggressive, but trying to make every shot. No wasted motion. It was good to get a win here on Christmas. I'd never won here, period, so it was great to get one."
Brown took his game to a new level on Wednesday night, earning a much-needed win in Toronto and some much-deserved love on a national scale. It was another serious boost to his All-Star resume, one that is taking shape at the perfect time for Brown and the Celtics.
