The Celtics’ 18-point lead had been whittled away to just three. Grumblings of “here we go again” were starting to waft through the TD Garden as Celtics fans feared a painful repeat of what they saw the last time the Knicks were in town back in the spring.
If there was ever a time for Jaylen Brown to prove he is an alpha dog, this was it.
Mikal Bridges was unconscious. The Knicks were talking a lot of smack. Joe Mazzulla was forced to call a timeout with 6:28 to go. What was Brown going to do to save his team?
It turns out the answer was ‘pass the ball to Jordan Walsh.’
“They started doubling me, so I wanted to make sure,” Brown said after the win over New York. “I wanted to see if that was the coverage, so I just dragged it out. And if you got two on the ball, the correct play is to get off of it, and that means we got an advantage on the backside. So that's just the right basketball play, no matter what time in the game it is. And I trust my teammates.”
The Knicks were probably hoping Brown would start trying to do too much. I don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Tom Thibodeau let Brown in on some of this thought process when he visited the practice facility in the preseason. Brown has had a tendency to take things upon himself a little too much in these situations, so why not test it with some double teams and see if some turnovers shook free?
They didn’t … at least not until the game was pretty much in hand … because Brown kept his wits and kept it simple. For the second game in a row, the Celtics closed out a hard-charging opponent with Brown giving the ball up in key moments to take advantage of the defense.
“I'm still learning and growing, to be honest,” Brown said. “I'm still, every game, I take information and apply it to the next game. Obviously, this year, I have more responsibility … I'm in a new position, and I'm still figuring it out. So I'll just take what the defense gives me, learning when to be aggressive, learning when to get off the ball. It's all stuff that I'm still getting better at every game.”
Brown and Walsh have developed a bond this season. Walsh has already expressed an appreciation for Brown going to bat for him with Mazzulla. Walsh has capitalized on this opportunity and is thriving in it now, thanks to Brown’s continued support, this time in the form of trust to make the next right play.
