ATLANTA– When the Boston Celtics arised from their timeout with regarding nine minutes remaining in Sunday’s second quarter versus the Atlanta Hawks, some began browsing for among their celebrity teammates.
They wondered: Where was Jaylen Brown? Did he vanish?
No, he really did not. Yet he did change face.
At the very moment his colleagues were walking onto the flooring to resume play, the Celtics’ electric scorer was without a doubt right there with them. He was simply sporting a somewhat various look.
Brown had actually abandoned the black face mask he had been using in games since the middle of February. The Atlanta-area citizen’s old visage had actually finally come back right into emphasis, as well as with it arrived a significant and timely adjustment.
” I was talking to [Marcus] Smart when JB took his mask off and also was like, ‘Oh, s–. It’s go time,'” Celtics guard Jayson Tatum claimed. “I understood he was mosting likely to transform it up a notch.”
Across the first 15 mins of Video game 4 of the Celtics’ Eastern Seminar opening-round collection against the Hawks, a mask-wearing Brown had actually been held to a meager 2 factors on a 1-for-7 shooting performance from the field.
As a result of that abysmal offending showing, Brown felt something needed to transform.
” Maybe it was all in my head, yet I just needed a different look,” he stated. “As soon as I took it off, points began to reverse a little.”
Points transformed 180 degrees.
From the minute Brownish took off the mask– which he started using days after receiving a fracture along his cheekbone in a Feb. 8 house gain the Philadelphia 76ers– he began playing in a different way versus the Hawks.
Without the mask on Sunday, Brown scored 29 factors on an 11 for 15 showing from the field. Each of his three helps and three made sixes was available in that stretch in which his face was visible. Brownish completed with 31 factors, connecting Tatum for the team scoring lead in the 129-121 win.
” He’s being in the edge, and he gets the ball and after that undoubtedly he makes those plays where he’s driving with pressure, as well as he tosses it off the glass at times, and he makes some excellent plays,” Smart claimed. “So we just knew at that moment he was a different JB, and also he was going to carry us and also bring us residence.”
Brown’s efficiency played an essential function in the Celtics going back to Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday with a 3-1 series lead.
Asked what he saw from Brown after his mask came off, Celtics train Joe Mazzulla quipped, deadpan: “His face.”
” After that, I saw simply his grace,” Mazzulla proceeded, after laughter throughout the news conference decreased. “And I assumed he did an excellent work making plays at the edge, running in space, playing off two feet, making the right play. To me, he revealed simply incredible grace on the offending end, and also he had the sphere in his hands, making plays for himself and others.
” Anytime he got in the paint, he made the appropriate play. So I was truly proud of him for that.”
In spite of the midgame switch, Brown is most likely to continue to be concealed in games going forward. The cartilage around his cheekbone is still recovery, he said.
Following the injury, Brown missed out on Boston’s following four games. He debuted the mask Feb. 19 at the All-Star Video Game in Salt Lake City, racking up 13 points off the bench and even tossing down an emphatic one-handed dunk in shift.
” I have actually just begun obtaining comfy with it because I have actually been using it,” Brown stated Sunday. “When I first put it on, I really did not like it excessive, and also I had to use it.
” [On Sunday], I simply needed something various. I do not recognize what it was: Adjustment my footwear, wipe my hands off, take the mask off, whatever it is I needed to do, I needed to do to assist our group get a win, which’s what I was trying to do.”
Last Updated: 24 April 2023
