Jaylen Brown had a spectacular first quarter on Monday night in Portland. Despite Jayson Tatum starting the game with two points, he scored nine points on four of his seven shots and played the role of initiator in multiple sets. Al Horford’s first three three-pointers of the game came from two screening actions the Celtics ran both on and off the ball.

Despite Tatum only scoring six points in the first quarter with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis not playing, Boston scored 39 points to take the lead. Each frame saw the Trail Blazers play to within single digits; they prevailed in the third, but the Celtics were able to pull away in the first and fourth. Tatum settled into a facilitator position that helped Brown reach 27 points in the 121-99 Boston victory, but he never found his shooting, going 9-for-23. Not counting the 11 points from spot starts by Al Horford and Payton Pritchard, the bench scored 35 points.

Together, Brown and Tatum led a 34 assist-to-three turnover effort to cap one of the team’s most dynamic offensive games of the year, despite Tatum’s ongoing road trip struggles (39% FG). Together, they gave up the ball once.

“I believe that (Tatum) is playing excellent basketball,” Joe Mazzulla remarked, endorsing Tatum’s strategy. It only appears different. I counted at least five possible assists from him tonight. He’s showing patience and an awareness of the game’s dynamics. He played pick-and-roll a little more tonight, and I thought he made some very nice plays. We have a different squad this year with different expectations, so even if he missed a few easy baskets at the rim, I believe that you can talk yourself into those things and that people are so accustomed to watching him dominate differently.

The most important thing a man like him can do for the team and the game is to be able to be himself, which he has done for us. He was able to control the game with the right spacing, take the shot he wanted to take or get the ball where it needed to be, and he did that more often than not. There were about five plays that we went through in the film session tonight, and that’s what matters to me.

Tatum missed his shot, but Brown’s post-all-star run carried on as he scored at least 20 points in nine consecutive games, dating back to the Chicago victory that opened the second half. While Tatum eases into the games, Brown averaged 28.0 points per game over that time, 8.6 of which came in the first quarter (5.9 1Q PPG on 41.9% FG over the last nine). At the same time, Boston won 7 of 9 games, Brown balanced 3.7 assists and 1.3 turnovers per game, Tatum improved his passing throughout the game (5.8 APG), and Brown attempted the most shots on the team (20.9 to 18.8). Brown’s catastrophic mismatches (53.2%) indicate that the formula is effective.

Additionally, it’s pushing Brown back into the conversation to form an NBA All-Star squad. Although he signed a super-max extension last summer that will run through 2024–2025, making it unnecessary from a contractual standpoint, achieving such status by exceeding his 2023 performance put an end to speculation about his potential to earn an average yearly salary of $57 million over the next five years. This is proven by their repeated appearances in the All-NBA game. Finding a reliable spot in this starting lineup and a complementary dynamic with Tatum will make sticking with them into the future a top goal, even as the roster gets more expensive and injuries become more disruptive to roster construction.

After Cleveland’s defeat last week, Brown declared, “Today was a mentality loss,” demonstrating his increased vocal leadership. We played the game and then settled in, so it’s more a mentality issue than an xs and os situation. We need to be a more focused, disciplined, and aggressive team; we weren’t that. Typically, we are that We handled the ball with too much carelessness and a slightly too relaxed mentality. We conceded offensive rebounds and allowed opponents to establish habits that we should have disrupted; these are unintentional offensive mistakes that stem from mental errors.

Since then, Boston has defeated Portland by a wide margin, defeated Phoenix by a narrow margin, and even defeated Denver by a wide margin—all without committing any turnovers on that particular night. On Monday, the Celtics resumed their devastating matches, shooting 50% against Kris Murray, 61.5% against Anfernee Simons, and 64.7% against Dalano Banton.

Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton, Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, Devin Booker, Julius Randle, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jimmy Butler most likely won’t be eligible for the NBA’s 65-game minimum rule come playoff time, with about eighteen games left. It’s less certain how cases like Brown’s will be affected by the position-less voting that also starts. Due to injuries to prominent players throughout the league, he most likely would not have made a team after the previous campaign, which set him up for his easy selection to the Second Team All-NBA.

The first team should be swept by MVP contenders Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Dončić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Tatum. With Jalen Brunson, De’Aaron Fox, Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry, Tyrese Maxey, and Damian Lillard possibly locking up six of the final 10 spots—only four of whom would have been eligible in the past—Kevin Durant has the best case among the outside contenders. After the third-team spot is eliminated, voters will have to consider if a center other than Anthony Davis deserves a spot in the lineup. Though he has played 60 games, Karl-Anthony Towns is probably gone for the season, so he might not have fit that mold.

That puts Domantas Sabonis, who may also wind up as that third center, and other forwards in the same class as Brown. LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard seem to be inseparable. Brown’s statistical production is comparable to that of Zion Williamson, Paul George, Pascal Siakam, DeMar DeRozan, and Brandon Ingram. In terms of games played, Lauri Markkanen will be very close to winning. Last year, she was defeated by Brown in a very close race, with winning probably being taken into consideration. Paolo Banchero, who leads a challenger in the east with home-court advantage, might also get some attention. Would the strangest thing be Victor Wembanyama’s votes? Most likely too soon.

With a wider range of vote-getters possible under the new voting system, anything is possible, and this means that Brown will need to meet a higher threshold to win. plus-minus expected ranks Among the most probable possibilities, Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Jokic, Leonard, James, Durant, George, Tatum, Curry, Brunson, Edwards, Lillard, Davis, and Fox were the most influential. For what it’s worth, those figures also position Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, and Derrick White favorably next to them. Although Brown’s +3.2 is an improvement over his +2.4 from a year ago, it still lags behind Maxey and James Harden among all those other names.

If further injuries surface and more people are swayed by the Celtics’ distance from the NBA field, Brown will be within striking distance. He will be hampered by a crowded roster, a low usage rate, and the new voting scheme. In addition to a team structure that becomes more equitable as the season goes on with rest soon becomes a factor for a Boston squad that leads the Eastern Conference by 8.5 games.

“Today, we discussed the need to identify strategies for dismantling Portland’s layers,” Mazzulla stated. “Sam Hauser and other players are open on the second and third layers of the possession because they understand when to select a shot and how to break that down.” In our pick-and-rolls, I felt Jayson, Jaylen, and Derrick did a great job of penetrating those levels and getting to him. He was found by Payton (Pritchard) in a couple.