Jaylen Brown is on quite the heater right now.
As one might have expected after Brown had to take over as the Celtics’ clear No. 1 scoring option with Jayson Tatum out, No. 7 is already setting the stage for a career-best scoring pace. He’s scored 30-plus points in five of his last seven games, including a 41-point effort against the Pistons, and has averaged 28.7 per game over that span. It’s not just because of volume, either. Brown’s efficiency is also improved to start the season, including 53.2% overall and 60.2% on 2-pointers, both of which would be career-best marks. His 27.7 PPG rank ninth in the NBA entering Thursday; he’d have to average over 30 to crack the top-7.
Now, Brown is even starting to make franchise history with his output. Brown scored 35 points with five rebounds and five assists in Wednesday’s 136-107 win over the Wizards, in just 25:53 of playing time. He became the first Celtic ever to reach those numbers in under 30 minutes on the floor. Despite the historic scoring rate, Brown did most of his damage from within the 3-point line, but still went 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. His 61.2% shooting was his second-best single-game rate of the season so far. On top of all that, Brown only turned the ball over once, a season-low for him.
Brown wasn’t the only player to make Celtics history Wednesday night. Center Neemias Queta also delivered a unique stat line, becoming the first Celtic ever to go at least 15-10-5 without missing a shot (via Celtics.com) — 15-12-5 on 7-for-7 shooting, to be exact.
The Wizards (1-7) are as easy as it gets for an opponent, so that’s worth noting in light of the Celtics’ spectacular showing. But the C’s certainly took care of business against a clearly inferior team, and did it with Brown playing as good of a game as one can expect from a franchise stud, at both ends of the floor.
Matt, a North Andover, Massachusetts native, has been with The Sports Hub since 2010. Growing up the son of Boston University All-American and Melrose High School hall-of-fame hockey player Steve Dolloff, sports was always a part of his life. After attending Northeastern University, Matt focused his love of sports on writing, extensively writing about all four major Boston teams. He also is a co-host of the Sports Hub Underground podcast and is a regular on-air contributor on the Sports Hub. Matt writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.