Celtics Notes: Brown, Walsh, Mazzulla, Stevens

Jaylen Brown‘s already impressive season reached a new level during Saturday night’s victory over the Clippers, writes Jay King for The Athletic.

The Celtics wing scored 50 points and dished out six assists while requesting to take the Kawhi Leonard matchup defensively. King writes that the term “two-way player” means a lot to Brown, as it highlights what he believes the game to really be about.

“Y’all focus on the wrong stuff in the media,” Brown said. “Y’all focus on offense and tough shot-making. I just think that’s not basketball. I think basketball is rebounding. Basketball is defense, defensive versatility, making plays. I know it’s entertainment and that’s what we want to push, but if it comes down to this basketball s–t, I just feel like I’m one of the best.”

Brown is currently second league-wide in opponent field goal percentage, holding players to 39.4% from the field, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter). That puts him just behind Cason Wallace and just ahead of Victor Wembanyama.

Brown’s coaches and teammates were impressed by the performance, but they weren’t surprised.

“When I saw that Player of the Month (decision), with the stats (Brown posted in December), I knew what was coming,” Luka Garza said. “I’m not like LeBron, I’m not saying I knew he would have 50. I’m just saying I knew he would come out and try to prove a point.”

We have more from the Celtics:

• After having some big games earlier in the season as a starter, Jordan Walsh came off the bench for the first time since November 11 on Saturday after being benched in the second half of Thursday’s win over the Kings, writes King. “I feel like the other team has to feel me. The other staff has to feel me,” Walsh said in response to the move. “The other organization has to feel me. Every time I’m on the court, I’ve got to constantly make it hard for everybody else to kind of survive on the other team. I feel like I hadn’t been doing that. So, I’ve gotta make sure that I am doing that.” The third-year wing responded by scoring 13 points with 13 rebounds in just under 30 minutes off the bench in the win over the Clippers. “I’m no stranger to this, you know what I’m saying?” said Walsh. “I started where I had to always stay ready for my next opportunity. And if that’s the situation I’m in again now, that’s what I got to be ready for.”
• Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla believes that the recent stretch of play has allowed his team to find itself and understand what makes it special, Chris Mannix writes for Sports Illustrated. “We’ve developed our identity over the last month, month and a half,” Mazzulla said. “We know what it looks like and we have to be able to do it every night.” Mannix writes that what was meant to be a gap year is turning into the league’s feel-good story. “I think we’re just hungry,” said Derrick White, who scored 29 points against the Clippers. “Everybody kind of doubted [us]. We got a lot of guys that have that chip on their shoulder. Guys that have been waived haven’t really had the opportunity in the NBA and now they’re getting that chance … it’s been a lot of fun.”
• It was unclear coming into the season – and even throughout most of the fall – whether team president Brad Stevens would consider the Celtics a buyer or a seller, but this recent road trip has answered some of those questions, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Robb suggests that the Celtics have proven Stevens should be in acquisition mode rather than seeking a cost-cutting move, given the openness of the Eastern Conference. Boston is currently just a half-game out of second place.