Celtics’ Jaylen Brown shines in NBA Africa 2017 game

Jaylen Brown arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa with an empty slate earlier this week. But by the time the next Boston Celtics star stepped on the court at the 2017 NBA Africa Game, the man was on a mission. Just a few minutes into his first stint in the game, Brown went for the posterization over Dallas Mavericks center Salah Mejri.

Brown went on to score a team-high 15 points as his Team World beat Team Africa 108-97 to win the second annual exhibition game. Brown finished the game off with a continent-rattling windmill that gave the South African crowd one last delicious taste of NBA basketball.

Brown picked up right where he left off last year, constantly running the floor in transition — in an exhibition game — and making acrobatic plays all over the place. Despite the high-flying power on display, it was his acrobatic finish over elite rim protector Bismack Biyombo that stole the show.

His concentration, power, and athleticism to actually pull off that shot is mouth-watering. But it is the dribble move that should have his coaching staff and fans excited. Brown had a knack for losing the ball on a big, sloppy crossover move when trying to drive through traffic. But here he displays a low and tight through the legs dribble with much more left-hand control than usual. This is the kind of development objective that will take Brown to the next level.

As the game got tight in the fourth quarter and the level of play approached real NBA levels, Brown took off. He buried a three with a defender in his eye in the early fourth. Then he had a crucial backdoor alley-oop from Kristaps Porzingis with four minutes left. With 2:30 left, Brown had a hockey assist to give Team World a two-posession lead.

It looked like he would finish on a down note when he missed a free throw with a few seconds remaining, but got his chance at redemption with the windmill shown above.

While Brown’s acrobatic three-point play would normally be the top highlight, the play of the day belonged to the Unicorn Kristaps Porzingis, who took making it look easy to a whole new level.

Catch Jaylen’s highlights below as he flew out of the gym in a tight fourth quarter to take the NBA Africa game. Then read more on Jaylen Brown’s journey to South Africa to become a better player and person.