Jaylen Brown joins rare Celtics company with huge night vs. Pelicans
BOSTON -- In the fourth quarter on Wednesday night at TD Garden, "M-V-P" chants rained down on Jayson Tatum as he squared up a couple of free throws. On this night, though, those chants might have been better directed at Jaylen Brown.
It's not that Tatum had a bad night. Hardly. Tatum dropped 31 points and pulled down 11 boards for his 15th double-double of the season.
But for much of the night -- without Robert Williams and Marcus Smart for Boston, and without Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram for New Orleans -- it was Jaylen Brown carrying the offensive load for the Celtics.
Brown scored 18 points in the third quarter alone en route to a season-high 41-point night.
Brown also had 12 rebounds on the night, which put him in a rather exclusive group of Celtics.
As noted by ESPN Stats & Info, Brown became just the sixth Celtics player to have multiple 40-point, 10-rebounds games. That list includes Tatum, Larry Bird, Tommy Heinsohn, Paul Pierce, and Sam Jones.
That's quite a group, with all four of those retired Celtics being Hall of Famers, and Tatum in the midst of being a perennial All-Star.
Brown and Tatum also became the first Celtics teammates with 30 points and 10 rebounds apiece in a win since Kevin McHale and Reggie Lewis did it in January 1990.
"I don't think this is the best you will see," Brown said when asked how lethal he and Tatum are together. "But so far, I think this is the best in terms of individually that we both have come out and played and led our team this season. But I definitely think we've got other limits to reach -- in the future, in our career -- and this is just a part of the processes right now, trying to learn and figure things out. So I'm interested to see how he continues to grow, how I continue to grow, over the years and things like that. But right now, we've gotta focus on what's in front of us, and that's taking care of business and trying to get back to the Finals."
