Celtics Back Jaylen Brown After Poor Performance In Season Opener

The Celtics held off a New York Knicks comeback to win their season opener Wednesday night, and Jaylen Brown’s poor performance was the main blight in Boston’s victory.

Brown scored 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting, including 0-for-4 from 3-point range. The 27-year-old also had five fouls in 38 minutes.

But the biggest blunder for the highest-paid player in the NBA was a 35-second stretch. The game was tied with 4:35 left to go. Brown forced a drive into the paint and turned the ball over, which led to a Julius Randle 3-pointer. The Celtics answered back, but Brown gave up a silly turnover, which led to a Quentin Grimes 3-pointer to put the Knicks back up three. The two-time All-Star also fouled Grimes on the shot, giving him an opportunity at a four-point play.

Brown didn’t score a basket in the final minutes of the game, but he did contribute six rebounds and five assists in the matchup.

“I thought he fit in,” Mazzulla told reporters, per The Boston Globe’s Tara Sullivan. “He had three plays with poise, he hit KP with one, had like three passes that got us back on the run. It was a stretch there where he had to regain his composure, but once he did I thought he made three really good plays. He’s going to fit in … we’ll learn from each other, play off each other, figuring out spacing as we go. I didn’t think our execution was great the entire game, but it was down the stretch, when I thought we played well.”

Kristaps Porzingis led the way with a historic performance against his former team, and Jayson Tatum was in MVP form. Brown struggled to find his shot, and it seemed like an adjustment from Mazzulla to not rely too much on the Second Team All-NBA guard down the stretch.

“It was just one game, we know how special he is,” Tatum told reporters, per Sullivan. “Everyone is going to have not great shooting nights, he still impacted the game in other ways. He had some key rebounds, loose balls at the end to give us more possessions. I’m not going to shoot the ball some nights, it’s all about impacting the game in other ways. JB is going to be fine, he’ll probably have a great game on Friday.

“And we won. That’s what matters.”

Porzingis’ addition showed Boston can rely on other players when Tatum or Brown aren’t at their best. But the Celtics should want more consistency from a player who signed a supermax extension with them this past offseason. Brown will get a chance at redemption Friday when the Celtics take on the Miami Heat at TD Garden.