Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown’s play was key to Celtics Game 5 win over Cavaliers

The story of Game 5 was Al Horford, who turned back the clock for a 22-point, 15-rebound, 5-assists, 3-block performance.

But the story of the series — and this playoff run so far — is that of the balanced, unselfish play of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, each of whom scored when they needed to, but were also happy to defer to others.

The duo’s well-rounded basketball helped clinch their fifth conference finals appearance as teammates.

In Cleveland, with the series tied 1-1, Tatum scored back-to-back 33-point games to ensure the team would come back to Boston with a series lead. Brown, meanwhile, scored 28 in Game 3 and 29 in Game 4, both on elite efficiency.

But when others had the hot hand – whether Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, or in Wednesday night’s case, Al Horford – they were happy to defer.

Jayson Tatum stuffs the stat sheet en route to Cavs elimination

In the series-clinching Game 5 win, Tatum put up one of his most efficient shooting games of the playoffs, scoring 22 points on 9-16 FG to go along with 10 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals.

Despite all the hysteria around his shooting struggles, Tatum ended up averaging 26.8 points on 44.1% shooting, 10.4 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in the conference semifinals. Those focused on his shooting lines will be glad to see Tatum’s efficiency improve.

But, the reality is that for this entire postseason run, he’s dominated the game in a plethora of ways, whether defensively, on the glass, or with his playmaking. Sometimes, he stuffed the stat sheet. Other times, he just focused on getting his teammates open with screens, passes, or simply by serving as a decoy.

“Do I want to screen? Do I want to handle the ball? It’s just simple – making the right reads,” Tatum said. “I don’t come down the court telling myself I’m about to shoot or I’m about to pass. It’s just about making the right read based on the reaction.”

The willingness to make that right read is what has enabled the Celtics to rack up 72 wins this year, and lose only 20 games.

Behind Nikola Jokic and Josh Hart, Tatum is the third-leading rebounder of all players still in the postseason – averaging 9.4 per game – and his assist numbers are a playoff career-high.

“I really kind of hang my hat – especially playoff time – on rebounding the basketball,” Tatum said.

Throughout these playoffs, critics have maintained he needs to be more involved offensively for the Celtics to succeed — and put up scoring numbers that rival those of stars like Jalen Brunson and Luka Doncic.

But Tatum has maintained that his scoring numbers don’t matter to him so long as the team continues winning.

“We know how gifted we are offensively, but each night kind of presents different challenges – being ready and up for the task to do whatever is needed,” Tatum said. “Because both of us are capable on the basketball court to do literally everything. Each night may call for something different.”

Despite elite series, Brown was willing to take a backseat offensively in Game 5

Brown, meanwhile, who has had one of the most efficient playoff series of his career, attempted just nine shots en route to an 11 points, 7 assist.

Prior to Wednesday night, Brown was averaging 26.5 points per game on 61.2% shooting. He declared after Game 4 that he didn’t think anyone on the Cavaliers could guard him.

He could have been tempted to keep up his scoring numbers, but instead, spent most of Game 5 deferring to others. He did the little things, logging a steal and a block and making impactful defensive plays that didn’t show up on the stat sheet.

“Jaylen only took nine shots tonight, but he was, I thought, tremendous defensively,” Joe Mazzulla said postgame. “He was locked in on his communication. I could hear him. He had some crashes on offensive rebounds, and when he did get the ball, he made the right play.”

The media and the fans preferred Jayson Tatum’s Game 7 heroics in last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals, when he put up 51 points to eliminate the 76ers. But this Celtics team is not structured so that Tatum or Brown have to take 30 shots a night or score 50 points.

They just have to make the right play.

In this case, doing so has allowed them to win 8 of their first 10 playoffs games, and clinch their spot in a third straight Eastern Conference Final.

Horford, the hero of the night, praised Brown and Tatum for their willingness to put their own numbers and touches aside for the betterment of the group.

“No matter what gets thrown at them, things that people want to talk about, criticize — our guys continue to work,” Horford said. “They continue to do what’s best for our group. And this year, that’s been very obvious. Guys are trying to play the right way. They’re sacrificing for the team. That’s been a theme for us all year.”