Midway through the second quarter, Jaylen Brown had just checked back into the game after sitting for most of Tuesday’s first 12 minutes. He attacked the lane before he rose for a shot, with Nic Claxton defending him tightly. With nowhere to go, Brown made an ill-advised entry pass to Luka Garza in the paint, yielding a turnover.
Brown struggled to find his usual rhythm in the first half, failing to adequately take care of the basketball by turning it over three times. His scoring was sufficient, scoring six points on 3-of-6 shooting, but it was not enough to overcome his turnover issue.
Mazzulla saw enough. He inserted Payton Pritchard into the game for Brown, who played just 10 minutes in the first 24 minutes. The Celtics were in trouble, too, leading by a point against a two-win Nets team.
Evidently, Mazzulla’s strategy worked. Brown returned for the second half, turning in an impressive performance that yielded 17 third-quarter points. He scored six points in the fourth quarter, including two jumpers that sealed the Celtics’ 113-99 win over the Nets to improve to 8-7. It was the first time Boston had a winning record this season while Brooklyn fell to 2-12.
“I was just playing like [expletive] in the first half, honestly,” Brown said. “Turning the ball over, etc. It took a minute for me to figure out, but I kind of picked it up to close the game. (I’ve) got to come out with a better start in the first half — especially in the first quarter — because the team kind of feeds off me. I know that, so I’ve got to be better. Joe is just holding me to a higher standard.”
Brown played the entire third quarter after sitting for most of the first half. He found success by creating scoring chances from 3-point land and inside the paint, shooting 4-of-8 from the floor and a 2-for-3 mark from deep. Only two of his field goal attempts occurred outside the paint and inside the 3-point line, where he missed each shot near the elbow.
Even with a late start, Brown still finished with 29 points and shot 47.4% from the field with a 3-of-7 clip from deep. His contributions played a large role in the Celtics’ holding a lead entering the fourth quarter, which was when Derrick White scored eight points to push Boston above .500 in Brooklyn.
“He played well,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, take a look at what he did in the second half for us. Nine for 19 (overall shooting), had 23 (points) at the end of the third. I thought that he had a huge offensive rebound there, crashing from the corner that got us that Payton three in the corner. He played well. We wanted to disperse the minutes. We wanted to make sure we were in good shape heading into halftime, and he handled it great. I thought he had a great second half.”