After an ugly, no-show performance in the Game 1 loss to the Bucks on his home floor, Celtics star Jaylen Brown was working out notably early on the TD Garden court Tuesday night to ensure neither he nor his team had a repeat Game 2 performance.
Mission accomplished.
Brown scored 10 quick points, including a pair of threes, as Boston jumped out to an early 18-3 lead over Milwaukee and never looked back on the way to a 109-86 victory.
Bouncing back from his 12-point opening game effort that included just 4-of-13 shooting and seven turnovers, Brown notched 25 points by halftime and finished with a game-high 30 to go along with just two turnovers in the win that evened the series at a game apiece.
"The first game, we got punched in the mouth," Brown declared immediately afterwards in a postgame interview on TNT. "Tonight we threw the first punch and won."
Brown was far from the only Celtic that got back to the winning ways that made Boston the hottest team in the NBA over the second half of the regular season and through the opening round sweep of the Nets. Jayson Tatum had 29 points. Grant Williams came off the bench with 21, including 6-of-9 three pointers, as Boston pretty much cruised even with Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart sidelined with a thigh contusion.
But there was little doubt on the Boston bench that Brown was the one locked and loaded with something to prove as the Celtics rebounded from their first loss of the postseason.
"He came in locked in. You could tell by how he came to the arena hours early before the game. I saw it in his eyes," Williams said of Brown's focus. "So at the start of the game I was like, 'alright, do your thing.' We were cheering and supporting. He established that tone, set that mark of aggression on the offensive end."
"J.B. was locked in. Locked in from last game. Locked in from shootaround," Tatum said. "If I was a betting man I would have bet that J.B. was going to have a great game and he set the tone. That was big for us, just how aggressive he was coming out, making the right plays for himself and for others. He kind of got us going tonight."
That focus that his teammates saw, Brown would expect nothing less from himself at this time of year.
"It's the playoffs. That's it. Survival of the fittest. Every game counts," Brown declared.
But some may weigh a bit heavier. After dropping Game 1, going down 0-2 heading back to Milwaukee would have been a huge step toward another disappointing playoff run and early offseason. Brown was having none of that.
"How you respond is everything in this league," Brown said. "We didn't play as well as we wanted to in the first game. We knew we had to come out and play like our season was on the line and we did. We came out and fought from the jump. We played with aggression, we played with physicality. And that was just necessary to beat a team like Milwaukee."
The Celtics indeed punched first in Game 2, making it clear they weren't going to get bullied physically by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had 28 points and six turnovers in the losing effort, and the Bucks. It was Brown throwing many of the earliest and most important punches to literally and figuratively lead his team to victory.
"That was our first true test in the playoffs, how you respond," Brown said. "I know a lot of us were a little bit worried, not worried but curious to see how we would come back being in this position because we haven't lost, that was our first loss in the playoffs. So getting accustomed to losing is something we don't want to do, but in a good way how you respond is everything and what you are made of comes to light in those moments. You got to see what the Celtics were about tonight. I'm proud of our group but we have to get ready for the next one because it's going to be a dogfight. I'd expect nothing less."
Tuesday night at the Garden both Brown and the Celtics showed they are more than ready to fight, through this round and maybe well beyond.
