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Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown # 7 clashes with Furkan Korkmaz # 30 of the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center in the first quarter.
The Boston Celtics have just completed a miniseries with the Philadelphia 76ers in which Boston lost both games by an average of 10 points and extended their losing streak to three games. To make matters worse, rookie sensation Payton Pritchard suffered an MCL sprain on Friday that will keep him out for at least two weeks, while All-Star Jayson Tatum played his fifth straight game as part of COVID-19 on Sunday – Will miss minutes.
Security guard Jaylen Brown, who operates on a understaffed roster, has taken on an abundance of workloads on the offensive. After failing to record a 40-point game in his first four NBA seasons, Brown scored his second performance of the year on Friday, losing 42 points in 36 minutes (career high). While the NBA’s seventh best goalscorer (26.9 ppg) saw his game rise to new heights in his fifth NBA campaign, he vows to improve his game even further.
After a 122-110 loss Points against the Sixers on Friday, in which Philly shot 55.6% off the field, Boston’s defensive rating has now dropped to 110.8 (21st in the NBA), the worst mark of the Brad Stevens era (h / t) Keith Smith & Greg Dudek of Celticsblog.com).
Despite his exceptional offensive efforts, Jaylen Brown, widely recognized as one of the best two-way wings in the league, blamed the team for the team’s inept defensive play.
« Much of it is up to me, » he said. « I’m one of the defensive leaders and captains on this team, and I need to be a better leader on this side of the ball. »That mentality in the Celtics locker room is that the team is more than well equipped to in order to perform adequately in the defensive area. Now it’s just a matter of regularly transferring those skills to the court.
« We just need to get that tenacity back, » said Brown. « We did it. This team is capable of it. We’ve had it sometimes. So I don’t think there’s a lack of (skills). We just have to have a mentality to do it every night. »
Head coach Brad Stevens reiterated Brown’s view, stating that the team will not remain competitive until they show a real commitment to defense.« We’re not going to win a game with the group where we drop 122 points « said head coach Brad Stevens. « Until we really commit to defense, I just don’t see ourselves as sustainable competitive. »
One of the players who visibly struggled this season is the takeover of free agent Tristan Thompson. Inaugurated in hopes of anchor the color for Boston, the former NBA champion struggled to protect the rim early in his inaugural season in Massachusetts.
Even so, Thompson believes he and his Celtics teammates are things will change. The big man admitted that there will be peaks and valleys throughout the season, but ultimately: “This team is built for the long term. This team is designed for the summer – June, July. «
Ref: https://heavy.com
