Jaylen Brown dropped 27 first-half points on the Portland Trail Blazers during the Boston Celtics’ 114-108 loss on Sunday, Dec. 28. However, the All-Star forward was held to just 10 points during the second half as Portland upped the intensity.
When speaking to the media after the game, Portland center Donovan Clingan shared his thoughts on how Portland’s defense limited one of the best scorers in the NBA.
“Be more aggressive, talk more, communicate,” Clingan said. “We were trapping Jaylen Brown in the second half, making him get off the ball and making the other guys make plays. And I feel like our aggressiveness and our closeouts, not letting shooters get off clean shots, I feel like that was a big part of it.”
Despite his second-half struggles, Brown was still able to make history on two fronts.
Brown ended the night with 37 points. As such, he tied Larry Bird with the most consecutive 30-point games in franchise history (nine). He also surpassed Bill Sharman for 12th on Boston’s all-time scoring list.
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Since moving into a primary offensive role for the Celtics, Brown has been proving why he’s one of the best forwards in the NBA. Over the 29 games he’s played so far, Brown is averaging 29.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists, shooting 50.6% from the field and 37% from deep.
It will be interesting to see whether the Utah Jazz adopt some of the Trail Blazers’ second-half defensive tactics when Utah faces the Celtics on Tuesday, Dec. 30. After all, a key to beating Mazzulla’s team is slowing down Jaylen Brown. However, that’s proving to be a near-impossible task.
Featured image via Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images
