Jaylen Brown, The Vet Years

Fishy1

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I think Jaylen's off-ball brain-farts and wanderings have looked better lately, as the accountability on the team has improved in general. Another way of saying he's got more people barking at him than ever between Ime, Smart, Rob, Grant and Horford. But I'm not sure if it's my lying eyes or just a slight, marginal or even temporary improvement.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I'm not sure if it's as much an effort thing as it is an awareness thing. He still thinks on defense the way he used to think on offense and there are fewer measurable ways to get better at that component of defense as there are on offense (improved handle, for example).
 

Fishy1

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Right, I guess that's sort of my point. One way of being more aware is having someone yell at you "stay attached." Maybe the reminder comes too late for that possession, but getting called out can keep a guy focused for at least the next few possessions. That's all I'm driving at.
 

benhogan

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Simply put, Jaylen's court vision on offense/defense isn't great.

He's bad with help, but a good on-ball defender

He's bad at passing, but great at breaking down his man on offense

Tunnel vision has its benefits with individual sports but is sub-optimal with team sports
 

Jimbodandy

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Simply put, Jaylen's court vision on offense/defense isn't great.

He's bad with help, but a good on-ball defender

He's bad at passing, but great at breaking down his man on offense

Tunnel vision has its benefits with individual sports but is sub-optimal with team sports
It's really a side effect of his mechanical approach to the game. He was a bad shooter, became a good one through work and coaching (personal training). Same with handle. He's learning to pass right before our eyes this year. He fixes flaws and takes them to the court, albeit methodically and sometimes slowly.

Some things can't be improved in that manner though. Team defense, "elite" passing, or truly elite on ball defense guys...that's more of a feel thing. It's possible that Jaylen will always have a hole for the "feel" skills like that.

I think that he'll become a more functional passer and cut down on his turnovers there. I don't think that he'll ever have Smart's or Tatum's off ball instincts, no matter how hard he works. It's just not how he approaches things.
 

Eddie Jurak

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It's really a side effect of his mechanical approach to the game. He was a bad shooter, became a good one through work and coaching (personal training). Same with handle. He's learning to pass right before our eyes this year. He fixes flaws and takes them to the court, albeit methodically and sometimes slowly.

Some things can't be improved in that manner though. Team defense, "elite" passing, or truly elite on ball defense guys...that's more of a feel thing. It's possible that Jaylen will always have a hole for the "feel" skills like that.

I think that he'll become a more functional passer and cut down on his turnovers there. I don't think that he'll ever have Smart's or Tatum's off ball instincts, no matter how hard he works. It's just not how he approaches things.
This is all true, but one area where he is less mechanical is how to attack the basket in transition. A lot of pure athlete guys get charging calls, Brown almost never get a changing call. Most of his offensive fouls are by him shoving or hooking a defender out of his way. I think he’s better than most at that, and maybe was held back by the lack of handle in the early years.
 

Cesar Crespo

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He's been better at distributing lately, though that's not saying much. Coupled with Tatum also distributing better of late and it's had a pretty big impact on the C's record. The easy schedule has definitely helped too.

Last 17 games: 33.8 minutes, .468/.331/.800, 23.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.1 assist, 2.5 TO.

70 assists, 43 TO in those 17 games. Prior to that, he had 64 assists/ 80 TO in the first 25.
 

Bleedred

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This is all true, but one area where he is less mechanical is how to attack the basket in transition. A lot of pure athlete guys get charging calls, Brown almost never get a changing call. Most of his offensive fouls are by him shoving or hooking a defender out of his way. I think he’s better than most at that, and maybe was held back by the lack of handle in the early years.
His handle is still a work in progress, but he's light years ahead of where he was. Jaylen is now a very gifted volume scorer and a very valuable one. Where he is still limited on offense is his tunnel vision (great point by ben h) and what I believe is a low basketball IQ. He almost never seems to think more than 1 step ahead once he has the ball, which is why he turns it over so much when defenses collapse on him. Passing is an after thought, although he has shown some signs of improvement there too.
 

Cellar-Door

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Jaylen plays defense like a cat, he has no object permanence with regards to his man. If he can see him or is touching him,.. generally very good. If he at any point leaves his vision or touch the man no longer exists.
 

Jimbodandy

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This is all true, but one area where he is less mechanical is how to attack the basket in transition. A lot of pure athlete guys get charging calls, Brown almost never get a changing call. Most of his offensive fouls are by him shoving or hooking a defender out of his way. I think he’s better than most at that, and maybe was held back by the lack of handle in the early years.
Yeah that's a good point. I still think that's one of the areas where he put in specific work to get better. But it is definitely the most natural part of his game.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Tunnel vision is one way of putting it. The other is that he does not anticipate the next play very well on either end. That's probably because he had never had to - he couldvjust beat everybody physically.
 

Auger34

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To echo everyone else here, Jaylens on ball defense is very good. He’s also a surprisingly good Post defender and often matches up with bigger guys on the block.

Off ball he’s somewhere between pretty bad and train wreck. I really don’t think it’s laziness or even bad basketball IQ (although he has made a few bad basketball IQ plays on defense this season). He’s just a really bad ball watcher and loses his man because he’s not paying attention. I think that’s something that can be fixed in the future and it can definitely be mitigated this year with the really strong team defense they have
 

Jimbodandy

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To echo everyone else here, Jaylens on ball defense is very good. He’s also a surprisingly good Post defender and often matches up with bigger guys on the block.

Off ball he’s somewhere between pretty bad and train wreck. I really don’t think it’s laziness or even bad basketball IQ (although he has made a few bad basketball IQ plays on defense this season). He’s just a really bad ball watcher and loses his man because he’s not paying attention. I think that’s something that can be fixed in the future and it can definitely be mitigated this year with the really strong team defense they have
I agree with this. A bit of a wandering eye is mitigated when the passes can't get through as easily and when your teammates aren't getting beaten with regularity.

He should get better at it over time, but I'm not holding out hope that he gets to a plus level there.
 

slamminsammya

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He is the king of overhelping. Generally he seems to have a very bad sense for anticipating threats on defense. I have a mental compilation of all the times he has needlessly helped off a guy in the corner where there was no need.
 

NomarsFool

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I know there have been some good games mixed in, but it also sort of feels like he's been in a bit of a funk lately. Tonight was pretty much a stinker, 4-17 and 0-6 from 3. A couple of big missed free throws, too.
 

lovegtm

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Jaylen's off-ball awareness & instincts are awful, but that's a hard thing for an opposing team to gameplan around, as opposed to opportunistically exploit. It's a lot easier to pick on mismatches and force help, and Jaylen on-ball is an advantage for the Celtics. Maybe in a 7-game series a team could find some stuff, but he's mechanical enough that he'd probably adjust to the same thing being run against him off-ball over and over.

If Jaylen were a Tatum-level off-ball defender with elite passing vision, he'd be a borderline top-10 player. He's still really good as it is, and this seems like a classic case of focusing on what a guy can't do rather than what he can. Hopefully getting White on-ball more on offense helps unlock Jaylen's strengths and mitigate his weaknesses.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Jaylen's off-ball awareness & instincts are awful, but that's a hard thing for an opposing team to gameplan around, as opposed to opportunistically exploit. It's a lot easier to pick on mismatches and force help, and Jaylen on-ball is an advantage for the Celtics. Maybe in a 7-game series a team could find some stuff, but he's mechanical enough that he'd probably adjust to the same thing being run against him off-ball over and over.
The good thing about Brown is that he's added some limited but meaningful playmaking ability. Watch this play, particularly the end.
View: https://twitter.com/NBAdoPovo/status/1492326043876737026?s=20&t=W0m1dipGp47yFINec2-GYw


Or here:
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1492329507176345601?s=20&t=W0m1dipGp47yFINec2-GYw


That doesn't make Brown a playmaker by any means but it adds something important to his game. Those were two critical 4th quarter plays made by a struggling (4 for 17 from the field) Brown that the Celtics needed.
 

Fishy1

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Particularly like the patience when the defense collapses on him in the first play. Smart was open on the wing for a three but Jaylen waited to find Rob on the lob. That's the right play. Smart makes that 3 about 30-35% of the time but Rob finishes that lob almost every time.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Particularly like the patience when the defense collapses on him in the first play. Smart was open on the wing for a three but Jaylen waited to find Rob on the lob. That's the right play. Smart makes that 3 about 30-35% of the time but Rob finishes that lob almost every time.
I liked the way he just used his dribble to step right around 2 defenders closing out. The next step is to realize after doing that that he's got a 5-on-3 for a few seconds. And looking for Rob in those situations is a way to sort of fake being a playmaker.
 

Euclis20

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That was fantastic. Jaylen making Blake Griffin look like an old man on defense was one of my favorite parts of last night's game.
+1. Nash put in Griffin to give their offense a shot in the arm, and it worked for a minute (the fact that KD/Kyrie needed Blake Griffin, a 29.3% 3 point shooter hitting from outside in the 4th quarter of a must-win playoff game, is delicious). He gave it back so easily on the other end, I can't imagine we see him again. At least the other guys on their roster can move their feet a bit, Griffin may as well be a chair on defense.
 

MuppetAsteriskTalk

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I thought Brown was having a poor game, but wow did he take over in about a 5 minute stretch of the 4th quarter last night.
 

Jimbodandy

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I thought Brown was having a poor game, but wow did he take over in about a 5 minute stretch of the 4th quarter last night.
I'll never fully understand why folks watch JB and often think that he's having a poor game. Then we look at the numbers at the end and realize that has hasn't.

By DARKO, he's at the edge of the top-20 group (just inside). By O-DPM, he's in the top 20. By D-DPM, he's only a very slight positive (0.2). But many of the guys ahead of him offensively are sieves defensively like Doncic, Kyrie, Mitchell, Booker, et al. He didn't make an all-star game this year and probably didn't deserve it, since he was only about a DPM 2.5 halfway through the year. But he ended the year at 3.5 or so and is now in the top-20 overall.

People still see his mechanical approach to the game underneath all of the fantastic stuff that he's doing out there. They remember the kid who looked like Bambi in his first couple of seasons half of the time. But he is a beast now. And while he has bad games like everyone, I think that people often watch his good games and only remember the mistakes.
 

lovegtm

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I'll never fully understand why folks watch JB and often think that he's having a poor game. Then we look at the numbers at the end and realize that has hasn't.

By DARKO, he's at the edge of the top-20 group (just inside). By O-DPM, he's in the top 20. By D-DPM, he's only a very slight positive (0.2). But many of the guys ahead of him offensively are sieves defensively like Doncic, Kyrie, Mitchell, Booker, et al. He didn't make an all-star game this year and probably didn't deserve it, since he was only about a DPM 2.5 halfway through the year. But he ended the year at 3.5 or so and is now in the top-20 overall.

People still see his mechanical approach to the game underneath all of the fantastic stuff that he's doing out there. They remember the kid who looked like Bambi in his first couple of seasons half of the time. But he is a beast now. And while he has bad games like everyone, I think that people often watch his good games and only remember the mistakes.
Classic case of focusing on what a very good, but not superstar, player can't do rather than all the things he can.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I'll never fully understand why folks watch JB and often think that he's having a poor game. Then we look at the numbers at the end and realize that has hasn't.

By DARKO, he's at the edge of the top-20 group (just inside). By O-DPM, he's in the top 20. By D-DPM, he's only a very slight positive (0.2). But many of the guys ahead of him offensively are sieves defensively like Doncic, Kyrie, Mitchell, Booker, et al. He didn't make an all-star game this year and probably didn't deserve it, since he was only about a DPM 2.5 halfway through the year. But he ended the year at 3.5 or so and is now in the top-20 overall.

People still see his mechanical approach to the game underneath all of the fantastic stuff that he's doing out there. They remember the kid who looked like Bambi in his first couple of seasons half of the time. But he is a beast now. And while he has bad games like everyone, I think that people often watch his good games and only remember the mistakes.
It feels like Brown is hurt by the natural comparison and contrast to Tatum in some regards - its almost an extension of the "can they play together narrative" that is hopefully dead by now. That said, you are spot on. Yesterday he was relentlessly exploiting every mismatch like a lion hunting its prey. It was glorious.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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According to this article - https://www.celticsblog.com/2022/4/24/23039848/jaylen-browns-finishing-key-to-boston-celtics-success-against-brooklyn-nets-nba-playoffs-game-3 - JB is taking 42% of his shots at the rim and is finishing them at a 76% rate for the series. His 6.3 FG made per game inside of 5 feet is 3rd in the playoffs behind Giannis (8.0) and Butler (7.0).

I think JB has been bothered somewhat by being guarded with a smaller, quicker guy who looks to pester JB's handle and that will likely be the way teams guard him throughout the rest of the playoffs. Given the way he works, I suspect he'll have an answer for this next year. Maybe even this year.
 

Eddie Jurak

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I'll never fully understand why folks watch JB and often think that he's having a poor game. Then we look at the numbers at the end and realize that has hasn't.
He didn't have a 'poor' game, or anything close to that, obviously, so if the conversation is "Is Brown very good?" or even "Is Brown a max player?" then there should not even be discussion. But he happens to play alongside another young wing who is better in nearly every way including decisionmaking. There was a point in yesterday's game where Brown was guarding Durant... and he helped off of him to double Bruce Brown leading to a Durent three. No way that Tatum or Smart or Horford would make that mistake. Marcus had a turnover late in last night's game because Brown had his man sealed away from the basket but didn't realize that all he needed to do was make the obvious cut and he's have an uncontested layup. Instead, Marcus' pass sailed harmlessly out of bounds. On the following play, Marcus ran the same thing with Tatum and got the layup.

So what are we talking about? Is Brown good? Of course. Is Tatum clearly the better of the two? Of course.

Can the two play together? The second half of the year has proven that they can.

There has been surprisingly little (at least to me) running of the Brown/Tatum pick and roll. But Keith Smith in his takeways pointed out a Brown/Tatum action that the Celtics have been using repeatedly (and successfully) against the Nets. They screen for each other off the ball, which often led to Brooklyn's defenders blowing the coverage on one of them - and if you are defending the Celtics you cannot afford to blow the coverage on either.

https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2022/04/23/0042100113/231/8bd825b4-8fd9-e2b9-f70d-bd778bfa341c_1280x720.mp4
 

MuppetAsteriskTalk

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I'll never fully understand why folks watch JB and often think that he's having a poor game. Then we look at the numbers at the end and realize that has hasn't.

By DARKO, he's at the edge of the top-20 group (just inside). By O-DPM, he's in the top 20. By D-DPM, he's only a very slight positive (0.2). But many of the guys ahead of him offensively are sieves defensively like Doncic, Kyrie, Mitchell, Booker, et al. He didn't make an all-star game this year and probably didn't deserve it, since he was only about a DPM 2.5 halfway through the year. But he ended the year at 3.5 or so and is now in the top-20 overall.

People still see his mechanical approach to the game underneath all of the fantastic stuff that he's doing out there. They remember the kid who looked like Bambi in his first couple of seasons half of the time. But he is a beast now. And while he has bad games like everyone, I think that people often watch his good games and only remember the mistakes.
Classic case of focusing on what a very good, but not superstar, player can't do rather than all the things he can.
Except I was specifically speaking to this one game, and how I had perceived he was playing prior to when he took the game over at a critical time in the 4th Q. He really seemed out-of-sorts to me earlier in the game. Do people think he had a good first half?

But anyway, it's not likely that my observations were biased by any past observations, as that was one of about 3 Celtics games that I've watched in the past 15 years. (Which of course could just mean that I'm a bad judge of who was playing well and who was playing poorly.)
 

Jimbodandy

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Except I was specifically speaking to this one game, and how I had perceived he was playing prior to when he took the game over at a critical time in the 4th Q. He really seemed out-of-sorts to me earlier in the game. Do people think he had a good first half?

But anyway, it's not likely that my observations were biased by any past observations, as that was one of about 3 Celtics games that I've watched in the past 15 years. (Which of course could just mean that I'm a bad judge of who was playing well and who was playing poorly.)
I sure didn't mean my post as a criticism of your or Eddie's posts. I posted that people seem to notice JBs flaws and gloss over that he had a great game. If you noticed that he turned a so-so game into a good game with a streak in the fourth, I trust you in that observation. Often JB has a 20 point first half and is relatively quiet in the second. He is streaky. This time seems to have been the opposite.
 

Kliq

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View: https://twitter.com/Timi_093/status/1518235349633413121


Tatum has become such a transcendent player that it's easy to forget how good Jaylen is, too.
I'd argue that as good as Tatum is; there is something about the explosiveness and physicality of Brown as an athlete that makes him a better choice to exploit mismatches like going against Griffin. The Celtics could have easily gotten Tatum v Griffin if they wanted too, but it was Brown who was tasked with playing Griffin off the court and he did it masterfully. Tatum is a better shot maker, dribbler, smoother offensive player overall, but Brown's stamina and burst make him a superior player in some ways to exploiting mismatches.
 

slamminsammya

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I'd argue that as good as Tatum is; there is something about the explosiveness and physicality of Brown as an athlete that makes him a better choice to exploit mismatches like going against Griffin. The Celtics could have easily gotten Tatum v Griffin if they wanted too, but it was Brown who was tasked with playing Griffin off the court and he did it masterfully. Tatum is a better shot maker, dribbler, smoother offensive player overall, but Brown's stamina and burst make him a superior player in some ways to exploiting mismatches.
Jaylen is definitely an excellent one on one player. He gets into problems when he's in a crowd or in any situation where he has to make a non obvious pass.
 

Spelunker

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I'd argue that as good as Tatum is; there is something about the explosiveness and physicality of Brown as an athlete that makes him a better choice to exploit mismatches like going against Griffin. The Celtics could have easily gotten Tatum v Griffin if they wanted too, but it was Brown who was tasked with playing Griffin off the court and he did it masterfully. Tatum is a better shot maker, dribbler, smoother offensive player overall, but Brown's stamina and burst make him a superior player in some ways to exploiting mismatches.
Right: before Jaylen started going after Griffin, Tatum did it first. And it ended with a jump ball.
 

Eddie Jurak

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I sure didn't mean my post as a criticism of your or Eddie's posts. I posted that people seem to notice JBs flaws and gloss over that he had a great game. If you noticed that he turned a so-so game into a good game with a streak in the fourth, I trust you in that observation. Often JB has a 20 point first half and is relatively quiet in the second. He is streaky. This time seems to have been the opposite.
He's been there in the 4th for each of the 3 games: 9, 10, and 9 points. Leading 4th quarter scorer in the first 2 and second to Tatum's 14 in the third.
I'd argue that as good as Tatum is; there is something about the explosiveness and physicality of Brown as an athlete that makes him a better choice to exploit mismatches like going against Griffin. The Celtics could have easily gotten Tatum v Griffin if they wanted too, but it was Brown who was tasked with playing Griffin off the court and he did it masterfully. Tatum is a better shot maker, dribbler, smoother offensive player overall, but Brown's stamina and burst make him a superior player in some ways to exploiting mismatches.
Maybe, but this might be a Brooklyn specific thing. They are a team wuith pretty unique limitations.
Right: before Jaylen started going after Griffin, Tatum did it first. And it ended with a jump ball.
I wouldn't jump to too strong a conclusion from one play.
 

the moops

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Jaylen won't, but he probably should get serious consideration for 3rd team All NBA. Giannis, Tatum, Durant, Lebron, DeRozan....

Seems like Siakam is getting all the buzz for that third team spot, but he was terrible for half the year. Butler gets chatted about, but he played 300 fewer minutes.
 

MuppetAsteriskTalk

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I sure didn't mean my post as a criticism of your or Eddie's posts. I posted that people seem to notice JBs flaws and gloss over that he had a great game. If you noticed that he turned a so-so game into a good game with a streak in the fourth, I trust you in that observation. Often JB has a 20 point first half and is relatively quiet in the second. He is streaky. This time seems to have been the opposite.
I did take it as (very mild) criticism, so thank you for further explaining your points.
 

RorschachsMask

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Jaylen was fresher than Tatum at the time, as Ime pulled JT for 12 seconds in the second half. So they camped him in the corner for 5 or 6 straight possessions to get his wind back, and Jaylen destroyed Blake. Went 3-4, and 1-2 from three.

FWIW, in last years playoff series, Tatum went 11-22 against Blake, 5-8 from three, and got to the line 8 times.
 
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Kliq

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Jaylen was fresher than Tatum at the time, as Ime pulled Tatum for 12 seconds in the second half. So they camped Tatum in the corner for 5 or 6 straight possessions to get his wind back, and Jaylen destroyed Blake. Went 3-4, and 1-2 from three.

FWIW, in last years playoff series, Tatum went 11-22 against Blake, 5-8 from three, and got to the line 8 times.
This has been a trend in the series; Brown turning it on in the fourth and really exploiting the lack of wing defenders Brooklyn has. Especially if Durant is stuck on Tatum and can't really help; it's a great matchup for Brown to exploit and he has risen to the occasion each time, in a variety of ways. He was torching Griffin thanks to Griffin being slow; but Brown's handle has improved so much over the years, he was able to start-and-stop and get anywhere he wanted. He's developed his skills from being just a raw athlete in a way few NBA players can really claim. Giannis is obviously the pre-eminent "guy who was just a raw athlete who turned into a great player" and then Kawhi, but Brown has really elevated himself from who he was when he first came into the league.
 
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RorschachsMask

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This has been a trend in the series; Brown turning it on in the fourth and really exploiting the lack of wing defenders Brooklyn has. Especially if Durant is stuck on Tatum and can't really help; it's a great matchup for Brown to exploit and he has risen to the occasion each time, in a variety of ways. He was torching Griffin thanks to Griffin being slow; but Brown's handle has improved so much over the years, he was able to start-and-stop and get anywhere he wanted. He's developed his skills from being just a raw athlete in a way few NBA players can really match.
You nailed it in the first post, his stamina can be a weapon. Now obviously he doesn’t play quite as much as Tatum, but there’s no question he’s been fresher looking early in the 4th of every game. Him being able to pick up that slack while Tatum gets his wind back has been massive, and wasn’t the case in the regular season. In the 4th quarter this year, he had a 48% TS. In these 3 games, it’s been 74% lol, he’s been unreal, and at the biggest moments.

And because Tatum is afforded the chance to basically get a few minutes off offensively (while playing decoy), he’s been able to kill it in the last 7-8ish minutes of the games. His TS in the 4th quarter this regular season was 59%, through these 3 games it’s been 69%, and I would bet almost every made shot has been in the last 8 minutes or so.
 

Cellar-Door

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Yeah, this series on offense JB has struggled early in games and turned it on late. I think part of that is a product of his strengths/weaknesses as an offensive player. He gets tunnel vision, he gets amped up, early in games teams bait him into bad decisions, they are fresh to trap hard, they are willing to be physical. His strengths are his elite athleticism, and straight line driving, late in games teams are tired, he gets the edge more, the doubles are slower or not there, his defender isn't as willing to take the contact etc.

The next step for Brown is tightening his handle and improving his vision. He's inconsistent in both which is what holds him back.

on Defense he's been excellent almost the entire series. Outside a bit in Game 1 and the end of Game 3, I haven't seen his usuall achilles heel of off-ball defense hurt him. Some of that may be that BKN runs garabge offense, but it may also be that he's focusing on it in the playoffs.
 

Auger34

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My God - how good is this team next year if JB takes another leap?
I think it’s a near certainty that the handle is markedly improved next year.
Before he injured his wrist last year, a lot of people were commenting on just how much better his dribbling had become.

For whatever reason (not being able to work on it as much this off-season due to the injury?) it’s taken a step back this year.

I imagine with a full healthy offseason of work that it’s back to at least pre injury level
 

Auger34

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You nailed it in the first post, his stamina can be a weapon. Now obviously he doesn’t play quite as much as Tatum, but there’s no question he’s been fresher looking early in the 4th of every game. Him being able to pick up that slack while Tatum gets his wind back has been massive, and wasn’t the case in the regular season. In the 4th quarter this year, he had a 48% TS. In these 3 games, it’s been 74% lol, he’s been unreal, and at the biggest moments.

And because Tatum is afforded the chance to basically get a few minutes off offensively (while playing decoy), he’s been able to kill it in the last 7-8ish minutes of the games. His TS in the 4th quarter this regular season was 59%, through these 3 games it’s been 69%, and I would bet almost every made shot has been in the last 8 minutes or so.
Its been really impressive how they’ve been able to pick each other up this series.

It was especially noticeable last game but it seems like whenever Tatum is struggling that Brown is able to take over and then when Brown’s shots aren’t falling, Tatum is stepping up to fill the void.
 

RorschachsMask

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Aug 23, 2011
5,205
Lynn
Its been really impressive how they’ve been able to pick each other up this series.

It was especially noticeable last game but it seems like whenever Tatum is struggling that Brown is able to take over and then when Brown’s shots aren’t falling, Tatum is stepping up to fill the void.
Them learning how to play off eachother, and fully stepping into the Batman/Robin roles has been beautiful.

It’s yet another reason I love Ime, and there are many.
 

TripleOT

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Jul 4, 2007
7,758
JB has improved his handle. He gets in trouble at times due to questionable decision making in traffic. He’s at his best when he’s playing with all three point threats spreading the floor, like the unit in the fourth in game 2, with JT, PP, AL, and Grant.

Ime has been iso-Ing him from the top lately, which seems to be working.
 

bakahump

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Jan 8, 2001
7,522
Maine
Seems like the playoffs have been the Opposite of the Regular Season.....at least the regular season we liked (January onward).


Does anyone know how to gather which Celtic scored the most 1st Quarter Points this season? Cause I swear it was JB. JT would often then be the man for qtrs 2-4 with JB often playing a little more "Crazy" and his weaknesses showing up more in the 4th. At the time I thought it was an interesting scenario that JT only had "to Play" (Perhaps "be alpha scorer" is a better way of putting it). For the last 3 quarters while JB would handle it for first.

Playoffs have obviously been the opposite.