Perhaps the most significant Celtics’ storyline heading into this year’s playoffs was the play of Jaylen Brown. He struggled with a knee injury heading into the postseason, and fans had been anxious to see the level at which he would be operating this time around – could he replicate his Eastern Conference and Finals MVP run of 2024?
After Brown’s Wednesday night performance in Game 2 against the Magic, people are quick to assume that Jaylen is back. He looked explosive on offense and it was difficult to notice any obvious effects of his sore knee; he seemed fresh and healthy. But — and I hate to be a negative Nancy over here — I’m not sold on the fact that Brown has returned to the level he was at towards the end of last season, and it has nothing to do with his knee.
Overdribbling
Much of Jaylen’s early career was characterized by his over-dribbling and “bad” left hand that caused him to turn the ball over. He would try to get by multiple defenders rather than making the simple kick-out pass to teammates. He averaged 2.7 turnovers in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, followed by 2.9 turnovers in 2022-2023.
But then, he seemed to have turned a corner in 2023-2024, averaging only 2.4 turnovers. He played with more control and was noticeably more content to make the easy play that wouldn’t show up in the stat sheet; he didn’t try to do too much. This resulted in him having an incredible postseason run where he was arguably Boston’s best player.
And despite his 36 point performance on 12-19 shooting, Game 2 seemed to be an indication that Brown might be reverting back to old habits, old habits that he might be able to get away with in Round One, but ones that’ll come back to haunt him in the later rounds of the playoffs, especially in a potential finals matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This is a vintage JB turnover. Even if he somehow completes the very difficult between-the-legs move in which he’s off-balance and dribbling in a very tight space, Gary Harris is waiting right there in the gap to poke at the ball and steal it. Rather than trying to split the defense, Brown needs to make the simple kick-out pass to Pritchard, who would likely be driving a closeout as a result of Orlando’s aggressive defensive positioning.
Here’s another example of Brown displaying a lack of comfort with the ball in his hands. When he’s playing at his best, Jaylen is cerebral with the rock and doesn’t move too fast; you can see him playing at a slower pace and letting the game come to him. Here, he’s rushing and forcing it.
Brown had a rough outing in Game 3 with 6 turnovers. His struggles during Friday’s game, in my opinion, can largely be attributed to him getting into his moves too slowly and attacking a fully set defense rather than one that had to move and rotate. Again, he tried to do too much and didn’t look comfortable.
Defense
Jaylen’s defense last postseason — specifically his hounding of Luka Doncic in the Finals — was also a significant factor in the Celtics’ dominance. He has always been an excellent athlete, but last season he made a clear effort to consistently play hard on the defensive end. His on-ball defense was a huge story for Boston.
This year, though, specifically in this first round against the Magic, I don’t see the same level of intensity and desire on that end.
Here, Brown is barely in a defensive stance and doesn’t provide any resistance to a driving Franz Wagner. He shows no physicality and reacts late to Wagner’s first-step towards the middle. WAY too easy.
Another example here of a total lack of physicality. Jaylen’s greatest strength IS his strength, so he has to lean into that on the defensive end. He makes little effort to meet the ball outside of the key and lets Wagner turn the corner way too easily.
Here, there’s no effort from Jaylen to get around the screen initially, and although he has a nice peel switch to guard Wendell Carter Jr. in the paint, he actually doesn’t guard him much at all. He doesn’t try to get in a good rebounding position and makes a very soft attempt at a contest. This version of Brown is unrecognizable from last playoffs.
Game 3 was more of the same from Jaylen Brown defensively. On this play, he isn’t nearly physical enough with Banchero and allows him to take up way too much space. Need more effort and fight.
Brown’s return to some old habits won’t hurt the Celtics in round 1 against a far less talented Orlando Magic squad. It might not even hurt them in rounds 2 or 3. But when and if Boston makes it to the finals and they have to face OKC (nobody is beating OKC 4 times before then), they’ll need Jaylen at his best. Dribbling into multiple defenders doesn’t work against anyone, but it works even less against the Thunder, who have a never-ending supply of pesty, handsy guards who are waiting for steals and deflections. He’d also need to spend some time defensively on SGA, one of the NBA’s most difficult covers. Maybe it’s mental, or maybe it’s physical. But whatever it is, Jaylen has to figure it out and return to form if the Celtics want to repeat.
