Must C’s: a Christmas gift from Jaylen Brown

We are going to look back on some great performances this season and starting us off we have a special present for you. At 23-years old, Jaylen Brown would become the youngest Boston Celtics player to score 30 points on Christmas Day since the great Bill Russell. On this Christmas Day clash in Toronto, Brown would go 76.9 percent from the field, too.

Photo by Mark Blinch/NBAE via Getty Images

To set the scene, it was the first time Toronto had ever hosted a Christmas Day game at Scotiabank Arena as defending champs in front of 19,800 fans. Coming into the clash, the Celtics were just 1-11 in games in Toronto under Brad Stevens. Sure, the Raptors would be without Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol, and Noman Powell, but Marcus Smart would also be missing for Boston. It was a complete performance from Jaylen Brown that was the story of the night as he displayed an outstanding array of moves from all over the court.

With the Celtics starting the game off slow, Toronto jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, but JB would attack the paint and scoop in a layup to get Boston on the board. At the eight minute mark in the game, Brown would use his power against Patrick McCaw to get into a lane position with his back to the basket before ripping into his trademark mid-range turnaround jump shot.

To open the 2nd quarter, JB unleashed his first three-pointer as he recognized the Toronto zone and stepped into a triple without hesitation from the wing feed by Jayson Tatum. Punctuating the first half, Jaylen would get out on the break and thrown down a two-handed flush off the Kemba Walker assist.

The third quarter was when Jaylen Brown would really get cooking as he would break out for 16 points. Specifically around the seven-minute mark, Gordon Hayward would skip a pass to Brown all alone for an uncontested corner three. Two plays later, Kemba Walker would deftly throw a pass out of the double team leaving Fred VanVleet scrambling to get back just as Jaylen nailed a triple in his eye.

Jaylen Brown’s next three pointer was a stunning pump fake and hesitation move past OG Anunoby to gather and side-step into the shot in one move. With the ball on a string, he was showing off his ballhandling and that improved handle with aplomb. There was none better than this between the legs to crossover to step back jumper over a hapless Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

The 118-102 win was the first victory in Toronto since 2015, the first for Jaylen Brown, and snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Raptors. The story around the horn would be the brilliant game of Jaylen Brown as he was scoring at a super efficient clip, including an impressive 5-7 from three and 5-6 from the FT line. He would also have 6 rebounds and 4 assists to round out the night and be home in time to unwrap presents.