Ex-Cal Star Jaylen Brown Helps Trigger Celtics' Biggest First-Half Lead . . . Ever

The Boston Celtics, with their 17 NBA championships, had never played a first half like this one. And Jaylen Brown was right in the middle of it.

Brown scored 19 first-quarter points and had 25 by halftime, when the Celtics held an 82-38 lead over the Warriors on Sunday afternoon. The 44-point margin was the biggest halftime lead in the history of a franchise that featured Bill Russell and Larry Bird.

“A couple years ago they got us in the finals. We still think about that,” Brown said during an on-court interview at halftime.

The Celtics went on to post a 140-88 victory in front of a national TV audience, the 11th in a row for a team whose 48-12 record is by far the NBA’s best. The final margin was the third-largest in franchise history.

But neither Brown nor running back Jayson Tatum were around by the finish. The Celtics pulled all of their starters while leading 99-48 with more than 7 minutes left in the third quarter.

"It feels great, but, at the same time, it's always within humility," said Brown, a three-time all-star who is averaging 22.5 points and shooting a career-best 50.2 percent this season. "We don't take the game for granted. We didn't come and mess around and that's just how we show our respect to the game; we handle business and take care of it. ... It's a lot of respect for the Golden State Warriors, but we feel like it's our time now."

The Warriors waved the white flag earlier still, sitting Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green when the second half began.

"You give them credit, they came out and whooped us tonight," Curry said.

Two days earlier, after a win over the Mavericks, Brown told reporters this is the time of the year “where we start to take it up a notch.”

Sunday certainly qualifies.

Brown, in his eighth season after spending one year at Cal, set the tone from the start, hitting a 3-pointer just 7 seconds into the game. He dropped in a mid-range jumper with 30 seconds gone and was on his way to a 29-point performance in 22 minutes on the floor.

The Warriors, and Green in particular, gave Brown lots of cushion, seemingly daring him to shoot the 3-pointer. He made five of them in the first quarter, three in a span of 40 seconds that helped the Celtics open a 30-21 lead.

"We were really grateful for that," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. "I just kept saying, `Thank you,' and kept empowering Jaylen. Credit to his teammates for empowering him to just continue to play. 

"Jaylen handled it great, and the even better part was it didn't affect his defense. I thought he even picked up is defense, which was huge for us. I thought Jaylen had a great game. 

The 27-year-old scored 19 points in the game’s opening 7 minutes.

Curry, who called the Celtics the best team in the NBA right now, had no regrets about the Warriors' strategy. "You try to find some weak spot to see if it'll throw 'em off a little bit. "Obviously, it didn't work."

Brown also took turns defending Curry, the NBA’s all-time 3-point king, who missed all nine of his attempts from beyond the arc and finished with four points on 2 for 13 overall.

At halftime, Boston had 20 assists and just turnover (by Brown) and had made 15 of 24 attempts from the 3-point arc.

Brown made a tomahawk dunk on a backdoor feed early in the third quarter, then went up in the air, did a 360-degree spin and fed Tatum for a 3-pointer that pushed Boston’s lead to 95-44.

Favorites to represent the East in this year’s NBA Finals, the Celtics got there in 2022 but were beaten 4 games to 2 by the Warriors.

Brown averaged 23.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in the series and scored 34 points — his high in 14 outings vs. Golden State — in the decisive Game 6.

Curry acknowledged the results of that NBA Finals likely motivated the Celtics to improve. "That's actually one of the worst feelings in the world," he said. "We've gone through it twice. You understand everything that goes into winning at the highest level . . . it definitely is a motivator.

"Whatever motivation they've taken away from that, it shows."

The Warriors outscored the Warriors 132-126 at Chase Center back on Dec. 19. Brown had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists but Curry went for 33.

The Celtics, apparently, remembered that one, too.

Cover photo of Jaylen Brown 

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo