With Jayson Tatum out, Jaylen Brown carries Celtics in ‘warrior’ effort

With his injured co-star relegated to spectator status Jaylen Brown delivered the standout performance the Celtics needed to seize control of their first-round playoff series Brown propelled the Jayson Tatum-less C s to a - conquest over the Magic on Wednesday with a -point -rebound five-assist one-steal masterclass at TD Garden The win gave Boston a - lead in the best-of-seven series with Competition set for Friday night in Orlando It was one of the best postseason showings of Brown s career emphatically erasing doubts about whether he d be in peak form after dealing with a painful knee injury for the final two months of the regular season At the end of the day he s willing to do whatever it takes for us to win Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla explained He didn t come in saying he had to get and He came in and revealed I m going to do whatever it takes to win That s what he explained me the day before and that s just the mindset that he has Regardless of if it s going well for him or not he can take it to another level He did that for us and I thought the guys kind of fed off of that Brown provided of the Celtics first points during a rock-fight first quarter then opened the second half with back-to-back -pointers after Boston shot just -from- from deep before halftime Later in the third quarter Brown scored on three straight Celtics possessions including an authoritative fast-break dunk after he picked Magic guard Cory Joseph s pocket at the opposite end to stretch Boston s lead to Minutes later he assisted on consecutive threes by Payton Pritchard Orlando stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner led a late-game rally but Brown shut the door on the underdog visitors by scoring seven points in the final four minutes He hit a high-arcing foul-line jumper over Banchero with to play then iced the battle with a corner three in front of the Magic bench that made it - with remaining Related Articles OBF With NBA playoffs here it s Face time for Jayson Tatum Jaylen Brown injury Celtics star looked great in first postseason practice Jaylen Brown wants NBA All-Star Battle in Boston I mean it was a physical meeting all night long Brown declared So for me just getting my jumper going I think that kind of opened specific stuff up and just playing a contest that s it Getting to my spots If you come down to it it was just making plays for my unit It wasn t too multiple X s and O s It just came down to making plays Brown s points were his third-most ever in a playoff championship trailing a pair of -point efforts against Miami in and Indiana in last year s Eastern Conference finals It was just his second -point double-double in the postseason the first of which came in a double-overtime challenge against Toronto in the bubble The NBA Finals MVP shot -for- from the field -for- from -point range and -for- from the foul line Obviously he constantly transmits this kind of strength announced center Kristaps Porzingis who chipped in points rebounds two blocks and two steals in the win He s willing to leave it all out there for the unit and sacrifice himself his body for the battle And everybody respects that And he was leading us in the current era on both ends He was doing JB That s what we expect from him And he s at the same time managing this stuff that he has There s no challenge big enough for him Like he can do whatever He s just going to keep taking care of it and keep playing the same way and we re going to be happy Though it seemingly had the desired effect Brown s approach late in the season was controversial even inside the Celtics locker room He played seven times in an eight-game span from late March to early April largely meaningless games for Boston which was all but locked into the No seed in the East despite nursing what he described as a painful bone bruise in his knee and looking visibly limited at times After the last of those games an overtime win at Madison Square Garden in which Brown scored just six points and didn t leave the bench after the third quarter Porzingis praised Brown but questioned his decision to suit up rather than rest ahead of the playoffs Brown proceeded to sit out the Celtics final three regular-season contests Brown and Mazzulla though expressed confidence in the four-time All-Star s plan to be fit for the postseason After his layoff he proved improved burst and comfort in Boston s Encounter win then carried the load in Battle topping minutes for the first time since March He played a total of minutes including all but the final seconds of the second half I mean listen he s been great consistent throughout the season Mazzulla revealed Towards the end of the season we obviously worked through the injury with him but you just trust the mindset and really the warrior mentality that he has He knows his mind he knows his body and he can take it to another level mentally and physically And in Battle he did that for the club on both ends of the floor especially to start that third quarter for us With Tatum s status for Battle uncertain as he recovers from a bone bruise in his shooting wrist the Celtics might need to lean on Brown and his warrior mentality again Friday night as they look to push the scrappy but overmatched Magic to the brink of elimination It s just faith consistency hard work pays off Brown stated describing that mindset It s something I live by since the beginning I think in my first interview with Boston I announced I was going to go to war for this city and I don t think nothing has changed So whatever it takes every single night You get out there and you hope for the best