ATLANTA — When the Boston Celtics emerged from their timeout with about 9 mins too much in Sunday’s 2d quarter towards the Atlanta Hawks, some began having a look round for one among their famous person teammates.
They puzzled: the place was once Jaylen Brown? Did he disappear?
Incorrect, he didn’t. However he did exchange face.
On the very while his teammates have been strolling onto the ground to renew play games, the Celtics’ electrical scorer was once certainly proper there with them. He was once simply wearing a moderately other glance.
Brown had ditched the lightless face masks he were sporting in video games for the reason that center of February. The Atlanta-area local’s worn visage had in the end come again into focal point, and with it arrived a significant and well timed exchange.
“I was talking to [Marcus] Smart when JB took his mask off and was like, ‘Oh s–t. It’s go time,'” Celtics barricade Jayson Tatum mentioned. “I knew he was going to turn it up a notch.”
Around the first quarter-hour of Recreation 4 of the Celtics’ opening-round form towards the Hawks, a mask-wearing Brown were held to a meager two issues on a 1-for-7 taking pictures efficiency from the ground.
On account of that abysmal offensive appearing, Brown felt one thing had to exchange.
“Maybe it was all in my head, but I just needed a different look,” he mentioned. “As soon as I took it off, things started to turn around a little bit.”
Issues, in truth, grew to become 180 levels.
From the while Brown took off the masks — which he began sporting days then maintaining a crack alongside his cheekbone in a Feb. 8 house win over Philadelphia — he began enjoying otherwise towards the Hawks.
With out the masks Sunday, Brown scored 29 issues on an 11-for-15 appearing from the ground. Every of his 3 assists and 3 made 3s got here in that extend through which his face was once optical. Brown additionally completed with 31 issues, tying Tatum for the workforce scoring govern within the 129-121 win.
“He’s sitting in the corner and he gets the ball and then obviously he makes those plays where he’s driving with force and he throws it off the glass at times, and he makes some great plays,” Intriguing mentioned. “So we just knew at that moment he was a different JB, and he was going to carry us and bring us home.”
Brown’s efficiency performed a key position within the Celtics going back on Boston for Recreation 5 Tuesday with a 3-1 form govern.
Requested what he noticed from Brown then his masks got here off, Celtics head schoolmaster Joe Mazzulla quipped, deadpan: “His face.”
“After that, I saw just his poise,” Mazzulla persevered, then laughter within the press convention room subsided. “And I thought he did a great job making plays at the rim, operating in space, playing off two feet, making the right play. To me, he showed just tremendous poise on the offensive end and he had the ball in his hands, making plays for himself and others.
“Anytime he were given within the paint he made the fitting play games. So I used to be in point of fact pleased with him for that.”
Despite making this mid-game switch, Brown is likely to remain masked in games going forward. The cartilage around his cheekbone is still healing, he said.
Following the injury Feb. 8, Brown missed Boston’s next four games, but debuted the mask Feb. 19 at the All-Star Game in Salt Lake City. He scored 13 points off the bench in the game, and even threw down an emphatic one-handed dunk in transition.
“I’ve simply began getting pleased with it since I’ve been sporting it,” Brown said Sunday. “Once I first put it on, I didn’t adore it extra and I needed to put on it.
“[Sunday], I just needed something different. I don’t know what it was: Change my shoes, wipe my hands off, take the mask off, whatever it is I needed to do, I needed to do to help our team get a win and that’s what I was trying to do.”
