The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 and are now one win away from advancing in the 2023 NBA playoffs. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led the way but the latter star needed a quick change to make it happen. The star guard needed to get rid of the face mask he has been wearing for months.
Brown suffered a facial fracture in February and had worn the protective mask ever since. He decided that he needed to make the change after a tough start to the game and took the mask off in the second quarter. Tatum had a feeling Brown taking his mask off would help him, according to Coley Harvey of ESPN.
“I was talking to Smart when JB took his mask off and was like, ‘Oh, s**t. It's go time,’” Tatum said, via ESPN. “I knew he was going to turn it up a notch.”
Sure enough, it did! Brown shot 1-7 while wearing the mask and then shot 11-15 after taking it off, finishing with 31 points as well as four rebounds and three assists. He explained afterward that he just “needed a different look” to get into a groove. His scoring outburst helped the Celtics secure the win. For a player as aggressive and skilled as Brown is, it's important for him to find a groove when attacking defenses.
When asked what he saw from Brown after taking off the mask, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla jokingly just said “his face” before pausing and then expanding further.
“After that, I saw just his poise,” Mazzulla said, via ESPN. “And I thought he did a great job making plays at the rim, operating in space, playing off two feet, making the right play. To me, he showed just tremendous poise on the offensive end, and he had the ball in his hands, making plays for himself and others. Anytime he got in the paint, he made the right play. So I was really proud of him for that.”
The Celtics need just one more win to secure a date in the second round of the playoffs with the Philadelphia 76ers.
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