Momentum was slowly slipping away from the Celtics. What was a 21-point halftime lead had been cut to eight by a 22-9 Dallas run over the first seven and a half minutes of the third quarter. Kristaps Porzingis’ first-half heroics were giving way to a Luka Doncic takeover, and the party-like atmosphere inside TD Garden was turning into nervous murmurs.
Jaylen Brown decided that was enough. When Boston needed a spark, Brown provided it and turned what could have been an inexcusable collapse into an emphatic 107-89 victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
It started in the timeout right after Dallas had cut it to eight, with Derrick White revealing after the game that it was Brown who stepped up to address the team during that break. Then Brown got aggressive offensively, drawing contact and making one of two free throws. Then he got to the line again and hit both.
Then he turned up the defense, blocking an alley-oop pass and a Derrick Jones Jr. dunk attempt seconds apart. Then he drove into the lane and kicked a pass out to Jrue Holiday, who made an extra pass to Jayson Tatum for an open three.
Brown’s dominance at both ends of the floor continued. A rebound off a Doncic miss. A dish to Al Horford for a corner three. Another big block on a Kyrie Irving drive (the crowd really loved that one). And then a pull-up three with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.
When that three-and-a-half-minute stretch was all said and done, it was a 14-0 Celtics run to push the lead back up to 22, with Brown at the center of it all. The Mavericks wouldn’t sniff a single-digit deficit the rest of the night.
“What you saw tonight is kind of the challenge he took for himself coming into the year, not wanting to be defined by one thing,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said of Brown. “He wanted to make plays, he wanted to be a well-rounded player and get better and better. So, his spacing, his ball movement, his defense on-ball and off-ball. Usually when you give up a run and your offense gets a little stagnant, your defense goes with it. And tonight our defense kept us in it, and that's really important, is to have that defensive mindset. And some of those plays that Jaylen made were a part of that.”
The box score shows a balanced attack from Boston in Game 1, with six Celtics scoring in double figures. Brown’s 22 points were a relatively modest team high. Depth players like Luke Kornet, Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk all got on the floor late in the fourth quarter – the kind of thing that happens in a comfortable win.
But the game was still very much in the balance a quarter earlier. It didn’t get comfortable again until Brown completely took over.
“When they cut it to eight, that’s when the game started,” Brown said. “I liked how our team responded.”
And it was Brown himself who led that response. When he went back to the free-throw line midway through the fourth quarter, the Garden crowd greeted him with an “M-V-P” chant, one that is now deserved after Brown was named MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals.
If he keeps playing like this, there could also be a Finals MVP in Brown's future.