It wasn't enough to stop the NBA's best team from taking a 2-0 lead in the series, but it did change the tenor of things, at least a little. When Brown was on the floor Wednesday night, the Pistons generally looked like they belonged there too.
He was the team's only player to post a positive plus-minus in a 21-point defeat.
"Bruce played great," said Luke Kennard, who led the Pistons, again, with 19 points. "Whenever he's in the game obviously he’s one of our best defenders, if not the best. The way he can impact the ball is big, able to block shots, get steals. His energy, you just kind of feed off of that."
As Casey likes to say, and as anyone can tell, the playoffs are a different game. The pace, the intensity, the competitiveness, it all ratchets up. Mistakes loom larger. The air feels hotter. The largely inexperienced Pistons learned this the hard way in Game 1 -- Brown especially. He left no imprint in limited action.
Casey removed him from the starting lineup in favor of Kennard in Game 2, in an effort to create more space on offense. (It worked.) When Brown came off the bench to start the second quarter, he looked like a new player.
The playoffs, suddenly, felt like his kind of game.
It started with an act of courage, Brown stepping in front of Giannis Antetokounmpo and drawing a charge. It continued with a steal and a fast break layup, then another steal and this time an assist in transition to Kennard.
When Brown went back to the bench with five minutes left in the half, the Pistons had shaved an 11-point deficit to one. They would lead by the break.
"I remember he got a steal and then took it on a break, pitched it back to me and I got a three. That’s just a momentum changer," said Kennard. "It gives us some confidence. Credit to him, being a rookie in the NBA and playing in the playoffs for the first time. He always brings fight and has that grit. It’s good to see that from him."
No, Brown didn't single-handedly flip the game on its head. The Pistons as a team played better basketball in the second quarter, the kind of basketball Casey has been preaching all season. But it wasn't a coincidence that Brown was in the middle of their flurry.
Asked if he could feel the game change when he checked in, Brown said, “I think when I took that charge, the energy picked up."
It did. And it rubbed off on his teammates, who began playing tough, aggressive defense themselves. The Bucks scored just 20 points in the second quarter. They came alive again in the third, with Brown on the bench.
The rookie presents a bit of a conundrum for Casey, who knows the Pistons must match the Bucks on offense to have any chance in this series. For as strong as Brown is defensively, he's essentially a non-factor on the other end. He lacks the talent to get his own shot, and his shot is nothing to celebrate in the first place.
He finished with five points and that one assist Wednesday night.
But when he entered the game...
"It set the tone," Casey said. "It gave us a little juice and energy. But against this team you’ve got to score. You’ve got to score. You can’t think that you’re going to get that many stops and give yourself a chance to win."
Brown came back in the game in the fourth, but by then it was all but over. He still managed to leave his mark on the evening, and perhaps find a new role for himself moving forward -- the spark off the bench.
"I didn’t mind it too much. I actually liked it," he said. "When I was out there, I brought some energy, we made a run and took the lead. I liked it.”