Jaylen Brown Joins Larry Bird With Historic Celtics Feat
BOSTON (CBS) -- As a member of the Boston Celtics, any time you can etch your name on a list that only includes Larry Bird, you've clearly done something very, very right. Jaylen Brown now has the distinction.
The 24-year-old fifth-year forward had himself a career night on Wednesday, scoring 42 points in a 126-107 Celtics blowout over the Memphis Grizzlies at TD Garden. Most impressively, Brown set that single-game career high in points despite playing zero seconds in the fourth quarter, finishing the night with a tidy 29 minutes on the floor.
In doing so, Brown joined that aforementioned elite, elite company.
In the long history of the Boston Celtics, the only players to ever score more than 40 points in under 30 minutes played are Larry Bird and Jaylen Brown.
Bird did it back in 1986, scoring 43 points in 29 minutes against the Cavaliers on March 18. Outside of that performance and Brown's on Wednesday, nobody's come close to hitting the 40-point mark in under 30 minutes played. Brown himself was tied with several other players for third-best under-30-minute performance for his 34-points-in-29-minutes game against Cleveland last year.
Previously, that served as Brown's career high for points scored, prior to the 24-point explosion on Wednesday night.
Brown said he sweet-talked his way into getting a little extra time in this one.
"They were telling me like, you're right at your career high," Brown said of the conversations he was having with teammates during the game. "And I gave Brad [Stevens] a little wink, 'Can I get two more minutes?' And he let me go back out there. So with that type of responsibility that Brad gave me, I just wanted to make sure that I still played basketball the right way, and it just happened to fall, stuff happened to just go the way they did. Just trying to handle everything responsibly."
In addition to the 42 points, Brown finished the night with five rebounds, four assists and a steal, while draining seven of his 10 attempts from 3-point range.
