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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 17: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics reacts after drawing a foul on a basket against the Atlanta Hawks during the second quarter at State Farm Arena on January 17, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. <\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics<\/a> left TD Garden with a convincing win over the coming-of-age Charlotte Hornets. The victory gave Boston its 54th of the season and fourth in a row as the team continues to gel ahead of the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last night, the Celtics saw a steady diet of multiple contributors. From the Jays at the top to the Derrick Whites<\/a> and Payton Pritchards<\/a> of the world. As is often the case, Boston saw a total team effort and pulled off a win against a no-joke Eastern Conference foe.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Celtics got down by as much as 11 points in the first half. They trailed by a notable margin at halftime. To open the third quarter, Hornets star LaMelo Ball<\/a> kept pouring it on, cashing in 11 of his team\u2019s 13 points to start the third frame. He was already on a heater to start the game. It started to look like the C\u2019s would need to overcome quite a lot to snag the W.<\/p>\n GettyJaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics<\/p>\n Then Jaylen Brown<\/a> happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then MVP-material happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 29-year-old Boston star calmly registered 35 points on several ultra-smooth-looking buckets. He heard the MVP chants increasing in volume, so he himself got louder on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jaylen Brown Makes History in Celtics Win\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier in the season, Brown made it known he doesn\u2019t think rookies deserve a kinder whistle than established stars.<\/p>\n So the established star himself twirled into a back-down position, lowered his shoulder and went to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n One dribble. Another dribble. Shimmy shake. Fallaway. Bottom.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the contested fingertips of top Rookie of the Year candidate Kon Knueppel<\/a>, Brown sank a fadeaway shot from the right elbow to wrestle back the lead from the Hornets. The Celtics took a one-point lead, and it felt like that shot was the first moment that truly powered them to victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brown was ultra-aggressive with 29 field goal attempts and converted a respectable percentage. The bigger headline than the 35 points in a potential playoff preview was the milestone the Boston star captured during the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n This MVP-quality season just keeps earning more sprinkles on top. Last night, Brown became only the eighth player in Boston\u2019s decorated history to record 2000 points in a single season<\/a>.<\/p>\n MVP Off the Table, But Brown Deserves His Cheers\u00a0<\/p>\n Sit back and imagine.<\/p>\n It is July 2026, the dog days of the offseason. You\u2019re thinking ahead to next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n You are told the Celtics will win 54+ games next season, Jayson Tatum<\/a> will miraculously return but not until a little over a month to go in a season and Brown would be an MVP candidate with his first 2000-point season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Would you buy it?\u00a0<\/p>\n The Celtics-life in you says yes. Your gut says no.<\/p>\n Even if Boston\u2019s season ended today, the entire franchise, starting with Brown, deserve uncanny recognition for putting out a contender on the floor every night.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten years into his career, Brown is peaking and in the heart of his prime. The gravity of his latest milestone says just that.<\/p>\n But Brown will tell you, first and foremost, there are bigger fish to fry.<\/p>\n All indications point to Brown falling short (well short, actually) of winning this year\u2019s Michael Jordan Trophy, but he\u2019s certainly taken a big leap in the eyes of the fans and even opponents as one of the best in the world.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 17: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics reacts after drawing a foul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,684,473,3878,685,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-706242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-charlottehornets","12":"tag-hornets","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116372077327797114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775523123_GettyImages-2264845411-e1775522619325.jpg\")
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