NEW ORLEANS — Jaylen Brown grinned ear-to-ear as the final buzzer neared, the first Celtics win of the season just moments away.
“It feels great to get the first one,” Brown said postgame, hardly supressing a smile. “Feels awesome, actually.”
Brown is typically among the Celtics’ least expressive players postgame, regardless of the final score. But, this is a new group adhering to new rotations and schemes, a group eager to finally see the work all come together.
The Celtics left the Smoothie King Center with a 122-90 win, their first victory in four attempts after losses to the Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, and Detroit Pistons to begin the season. The win came on the second night of a back-to-back, and with Brown continuing to play through a hamstring tweak he suffered in the preseason finale less than two weeks ago that he has said limited his athleticism.
While the Celtics star was a gametime decision on the injury report, he made clear to reporters on Sunday night in Detroit that he intended to play.
“I had to get on the floor,” Brown said. “We got to find a way to get a win. So, I was going to play until we figured that part out.”
Monday’s win was a team-wide effort; Anfernee Simons (25 points, 6 rebounds), Luka Garza (16 points, 6 rebounds), and Josh Minott (15 points, 9 rebounds) all tallied their best games in green.
“I wanna be able to come here and impact winning,” Simons said. “We been winning a lot before me, so I wanna be able to find my way within that and still be myself, but also find new ways to be able to contribute to winning.”
Neemias Queta pulled down 11 rebounds alongside 6 points and 4 blocks, earning praise from Joe Mazzulla for his “connective” plays. Payton Pritchard posted 18 points and 8 assists as he continues to find his footing in the starting lineup.
And, perhaps most importantly, after being dominated on the glass in the season’s first three games, the Celtics out-rebounded the Pelicans by 19 rebounds.
“We continued to make a conscious effort at getting them,” Mazzulla said, while also noting the team played a less aggressive pick-and-roll defense that put them in a better position to rebound.
The win doesn’t mean all of Boston’s woes are immediately solved; after all, it came against a Pelicans team that entered the evening both winless and without their star player, Zion Williamson.
But, it showcased how everything can look for Boston when it comes together — how defense can turn into offense, how Simons can provide an elite scoring threat, how Queta can protect the rim.
“We knew that, at some point, it was going to click for us,” Simons said. “Tonight, it clicked for us.”
Jaylen Brown always expected the progress to be a process
Brown has said from the beginning of training camp that he believes in the group, but that it’s going to take time — time for all the new guys to absorb concepts essential to what the Celtics are trying to do, time for everyone to learn to play together.
“The information is comprehending, they’re learning and they’re becoming better basketball players,” Brown said. “This is the application. It’s just kind of like the last part of it, as we go through practice, as we go through sets, as we go over coverages, they’re seeing it in their brains, everybody’s understanding it. Now going out there, and being able to apply it to the actual game as it’s coming at you full speed, being able to do that night in and night out is a challenge for younger players, but I think this group has the potential to do so.”
Brown is relishing that process.
In his postgame press conferences, he’s routinely shouted out younger players unprompted, highlighting Hugo Gonzalez’s strong play on in New York and Josh Minott’s first career start in New Orleans.
He’s enjoying being more of a teacher and more of a leader, helping the young guys grasp new concepts while knowing
And, as he finds that balance, he’s unsurprisingly been the Celtics’ leading scorer, averaging 26 points on 50% shooting and 47.8% from three.
“I’m here to help,” Brown said. “I’m here to help our guys learn in that process, as I’m trying to lead as well.”
Mazzulla has routinely stressed that it’s one thing to preach togetherness, but that it’s another to maintain it through adversity.
So, there was zero panic after the tough start.
Pritchard told reporters in Detroit that he felt like the team was trending in the right direction despite racking up another loss, and his words captured the mood in the locker room; an 0-3 start to the season felt surprisingly optimistic.
“We’ve handled it great, to be honest,” Simons said. “Better than I expected. You come in here and you hear stories, like, it’s two and a row and everyone is looking around like the world is gonna end. It wasn’t like that. We kept a positive mindset.”
Still, Brown — a 10-year vet in Boston — sees the Celtics fans’ early-season frustrations. He understands the expectations.
And, he asked for patience as the pieces come together.
“It’s going to take some time,” Brown said. “We lost four All-Stars from last season between Al [Horford], Jrue [Holiday], Kristaps [Porzingis], and JT being out. And Luke [Kornet’s] an All-Star to me. Luke’s an All-Star in all of our hearts. We didn’t lose one guy — we lost five. To replace those guys, it doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen in a week, either. We got to build some chemistry, we got to build some identity, and adopt a new style of play. But, I believe in this group, I believe that we have the potential.”
