Despite having both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on the floor, the Boston Celtics suffered a landmark 102-92 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night. With their first loss to the Wolves at home since 2005, the Celtics fell to 47-24 on the season in rather disappointing fashion.
Several things went wrong for the Celtics, who were facing a Wolves team without Anthony Edwards. On that note, Jaylen Brown began by detailing the major errors during his postgame media availability.
“We didn’t make shots, and I think that led to our defense a little bit,” Brown began. “[In the] fourth quarter, they got it rolling, and we didn’t respond, we didn’t answer. So it just kept piling on.”
The Celtics’ fourth-quarter output was abysmal. With only 15 points for the period, Boston’s offense effectively came to a standstill, allowing Minnesota to pull away comfortably.
It became abundantly clear that Boston’s effort in the final frame dictated the result of the game. However, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla also shed light on some other shortcomings, stating:
“We messed up the timing of our offense, I thought. We got our advantage late in the shot clock, where we were able to get a good shot. We just missed layups and missed some shots as well. I thought their [Wolves] second unit, with their physicality and their ability to pressure the ball hurt the timing of our execution.”
The Celtics ended the game with shooting splits of 34-95 from the field (~36%) and 9-33 from three-point range (~27%). Although figures like these may be outliers, the Celtics may need to address these matters sooner rather than later.
Jaylen Brown Takes Accountability For The Loss
Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown led the team in scoring, notching 29 points, seven rebounds, and four assists for the game. Although he shot an inefficient 9-26 FG, he was arguably Boston’s best performer. Still, given the result, Brown couldn’t help but take accountability for the loss.
“Personally, I feel like sometimes when the game gets away from you a little bit, you’re going to be more aggressive, and sometimes you need to be more patient,” Brown commented. “So for me personally, I could have been more patient. Definitely something to learn from. Watch some film, and move on to the next.”
Boston’s struggles were made particularly apparent when the pair of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum only combined for a total of five points in the final frame. After a strong start to the second half, the Celtics seemingly took their foot off the pedal, enabling Minnesota to stunt Boston’s momentum and coast to victory.
Although the game didn’t go as planned, Jaylen Brown’s outlook is refreshing. His willingness to take responsibility for his shortcomings and make amends is a mark of his leadership, one that the Celtics will certainly look to as they head into the final stretch of the regular season.
With only 11 games left in the campaign, the second-ranked Boston Celtics will look to solidify their standing in the Eastern Conference. Given that they are only 1.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks in third at the moment, Boston must return to winning ways to stake their claim on the No. 2 spot.
