Jaylen Brown was 4-for-11 from the field with eight points in the first round of the NBA Playoffs entering Game 3. He hadn’t made a single three-pointer (0-for-5) for the Boston Celtics.
It seemed like he completely forgot about both games in Boston’s 104-96 win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday. While Kyrie Irving had the late-game heroics and Jayson Tatum maintained the level of offensive efficiency he has throughout the series, Brown brought his game to another level in Game 3.
Boston’s shooting guard was near perfect from the field, finishing 8-for-9 from the floor (4-for-5 from deep), scoring 22 points. His only miss was his last shot attempt; a long three-point heave with the shot clock winding down just after the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter.
Now, the Boston Celtics have witnessed their fair share of impressive offensive performances, even in the 21st century alone. But Brown’s was unique. According to @Celtics_Stats on Twitter, Boston has not seen a performance like Brown’s in Game 3 since 2005, when Raef LaFrentz scored 21 points on 8 of 9 shooting (5-for-5 from three), also coming in the playoffs against the Pacers.
Hopefully, for the Celtics sake, Brown doesn’t follow LaFrentz’s blueprint too closely because he only scored three points after his big night back in 2005.
