On Sunday evening, Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics picked up their 62nd win of what has been a historic 2023-24 season with a 124-107 home thrashing of the Portland Trail Blazers despite playing without the services of superstar forward Jayson Tatum. Brown of course is a star player in his own right and poured in 26 points on the afternoon, leading a balanced Celtics scoring attack that included 20 points from Payton Pritchard and 15 from Derrick White, moving Boston's record to a perfect 5-0 since their shocking two-game sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks in State Farm Arena two weeks ago.
As part of his 26 points on Sunday evening, Jaylen Brown passed the 10,000 point plateau for his career, and after the game, he gave his immediate reaction to hitting the historic milestone, making him the 15th player in Celtics history to reach that accomplishment.
“It means a lot,” said Brown, per Celtics on NBC Sports Boston on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “It means a lot of hard work, and it's been a great journey, and we're still looking forward to what's next. Hopefully another 10,000 in me.”
For the second game in a row, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters for the stretch run of the game and allowed his bench unit to carry the load on the way to victory, much in the way he did on Friday evening in a win vs the Sacramento Kings. Brown spoke on the Celtics' depth in being able to get across the finish line even with players who haven't received as many minutes this year.
“We're a great team top to bottom,” said Brown. “The chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and we've got no weak links. Our guys come out ready to play, and a lot of times, they're the ones running and controlling the game, so going into the playoffs, we're looking for each night somebody to step up and be big for us.”
A historic Celtics squad
Although Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the heads of the snake for the Celtics, one of the unsung aspects of the team this year has been their depth, as players like Payton Pritchard, Al Horford, Sam Hauser, and others have each pitched in admirably off the bench, or during the times they've been thrust into the starting lineup.
As for the upcoming postseason, playoff runs don't get much more “championship or bust” than the one the Celtics are about to embark on. The Celtics have been the best team in the NBA all year record-wise, but playoff shortcomings are still fresh in the minds of their fanbase, particularly last year's fiasco against the Miami Heat, which saw the team go down 3-0, battle all the way back, and then fall flat on their faces in Game 7 at home.
Boston will have home court advantage in every series they play this postseason, but it's likely that they will be seeing either the Philadelphia 76ers or the Heat in Round One, two teams that gave them plenty of trouble in 2023.
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