If Jaylen Brown wants to be remembered as an all-time great, he has to save the Boston Celtics' season without Jayson Tatum.
During their Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum fell to the floor late in the 4th quarter, grabbing his right ankle and had to be helped off by the training staff. As everyone in Madison Square Garden held their collective breaths, it is assumed that Tatum suffered a torn Achilles injury. Since then, that's now been confirmed and it's ended his season and most likely any shot the Celtics have at repeating as NBA champs.
Tatum leads the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists during the Celtics' recent playoff run, and Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla and company will have to figure out how to compensate for the loss while facing elimination at the same time. Luckily, for the Celtics, they have a veteran team that can still get the job done, but they have no room for error against the Knicks.
Jaylen Brown needs to save the Boston Celtics
If there is any one player who should look forward to the daunting challenge of getting back in the series, it's definitely 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. In the grand scheme of things, Tatum and Brown have formed one of the most dynamic duos in the NBA as they pose many problems, matchup-wise, for opponents when both of them are on the floor together. But we all have seen what Brown is capable of doing when the pressure is on but he will also have the assistance of veterans like Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White to help ease some of the scoring responsibilities as the Knicks will more likely focus on slowing him down and keeping his shot attempts to a minimum.
The Celtics have shot poorly from downtown collectively as a group in this series and have only made 35 percent of their attempts in four games. The Game 1 and Game 2 losses could be blamed on the Celtics' poor three-point shooting, as they shot just 25 percent during both games played at TD Garden. The Celtics are 8-2 this season when Tatum hasn't played and are 29-22 all-time without him in the lineup.
Even though they have enough confidence to know that they can be victorious without Tatum, the Celtics would much rather have their leader battling it out with them. A reporter asked Brown during postgame media availability about his role as a leader and how the Celtics emerge as a team from the absence of Tatum.
"All that can be said is get ready for the next one. Get ready to fight, get ready to come out on our home floor and do what we need to do. That's the goal. We have enough in this locker room, so I believe in my guys."Jaylen Brown
It's not impossible for the Celtics to come back and take this series, especially if Brown plays the way he did during last season's title run. It will be difficult because Tatum's presence caused a lot of mismatches and gave the Celtics a lot of advantages. The task will be difficult without Tatum, but Brown is a player who is better suited to handle the job than most.