Jaylen Brown is holding himself to a high standard this season, and Sunday night was no exception.
Brown returned to the floor fresh off a three-day break as the Celtics hosted the Clippers in search of a second straight win. He scored 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, recording his first double-double of the season. But his 14-of-33 shooting, marked by several missed opportunities that could have made Boston’s 121-118 victory over LA less down-to-the-wire and more seamless, was all the four-time All-Star could think about when reflecting on his performance.
“My team counts on me to play a little bit better, and tonight I didn’t really play that well,” Brown said.
Out of Brown’s 19 missed shots, 10 came within seven feet of the rim, including six in the restricted area. Those misses made the difference — not just between a 33-point outing and a potential 40 or 50-point performance, but also between cruising to a comfortable fourth-quarter finish and facing a late push from Harden and the Clippers. Boston’s 24-point lead dwindled, and if Harden’s slightly off-target 3-pointer at the buzzer had gone in, the game would have headed to overtime.
The Celtics shot 46-of-103 as a team, with 34 of those misses coming from inside the perimeter. So, it wasn’t just a Brown problem; it was a team-wide issue that slowed Boston’s offense and nearly cost them a home win. In many ways, the Clippers bailed out the Celtics, committing 14 turnovers, allowing 20 offensive rebounds, and being dominated, 22-9, in the fast-break points margin.
Whenever Los Angeles had a chance to truly threaten Boston’s lead, nothing came to fruition.
Brown, however, isn’t fully satisfied, knowing how easily the Clippers could have turned the game around.
“Some of those came from me,” Brown confessed. “Just at the rim, I missed a bunch of layups tonight and they were able to convert in that third quarter. I think that kind of got them going — shots that I’ve got to make or go up a little bit stronger.”
This hasn’t been an issue for Brown this season, so the 29-year-old can chalk it up to an off night. His 2-point shooting percentage of 57.5% tops his previous two seasons and ranks third among all Celtics attempting at least five shots inside the perimeter per game — Brown averages 14.3.
“I got a bunch of good looks, I feel like, and just missed a bunch of shots at the rim tonight,” he said. “A bunch of layups — I wonder how many I missed tonight. Just not a great game for me. I’ll get some rest and get ready for the next one.”
Celtics center Neemias Queta missed a layup from just two feet away while being guarded by 6-foot-5 Bogdan Bogdanović in the fourth quarter. The miss kept Boston from taking a 117-109 lead with 29.4 seconds remaining, and gave Los Angeles one final glimmer of hope.
“Everyone thinks that just because the closer you get, the easier it is,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “You have to be able to knock those down in the restricted area, and usually when you miss those, it starts a five-on-four at the other end, and you have a guy or two behind the defense. So I thought our reads were pretty good. We’ve got to be much better when we get the ball in the paint at making those, and then regardless, we’ve got to sprint back.”
It’s not a slip-up Boston will overthink. Mazzulla’s squad has averaged 48.8 shot attempts inside the perimeter this season, converting 55.4% of them. Brown’s mid-range game, in particular, has been a bright spot in the team’s offense amid its reshaping. Although the Clippers managed to expose inefficiency at the rim on Sunday, the Celtics have plenty of time to correct their mistakes and move forward as the season progresses.
On the topic of Brown, Mazzulla isn’t particularly concerned in the slightest.
“I thought he kind of went on a run there in the fourth quarter to get the lead to where it was,” Mazzulla explained. “But the two steals in the fourth quarter and his ability to rebound, just playing both ends of the ball, that’s how he’s leading for us; he’s gonna continue to do it.”
