"Masked Jaylen" returned for the Celtics for Game 5
BOSTON -- Jaylen Brown ditched his protective mask on Sunday night and led the Celtics to a Game 4 win over the Hawks in Atlanta. In Boston on Tuesday night, the mask was back, but Brown continued to cook from the floor.
Unfortunately for Brown and the Celtics, it came in a losing effort, as Boston completely collapsed down the stretch to fall 119-117. Brown was on the wrong side for Trae Young's game-winning 3-pointed from way out with 1.8 seconds left.
"We smoked the game," Brown said after the loss. "We had some bonehead plays."
The end spoiled an otherwise solid night from "Masked Jaylen." Brown finished the game with 35 points, hitting 15 of his 23 attempts from the floor. He was 4-for-7 from three, including a triple with 6:08 left that gave Boston a 13-point lead.
But the Celtics took their foot off the gas after that make, and fell apart in the end. Now we'll see if the mask is back in Thursday night's Game 6 down in Atlanta.
Brown missed his first two shots on in Game 5, but hit his final five shots in the first quarter to finish the frame with 11 points. He then went 5-for-6 in the second quarter to head into halftime with a game-high 23 points. His eight fourth-quarter points went to waste, as the C's lost in the end.
After a sluggish start to Game 4 in Atlanta, Brown opted to lose the mask, saying that he felt that "something had to change." It worked wonderfully, as Brown went on to score 31 points in the Boston victory.
Going back to the mask on Tuesday night didn't slow him down, but it didn't help the Celtics shake off their tendency to make things more difficult than they need to be.
