Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum change sub pattern in recent Celtics games

SAN FRANCISCO – Jaylen Brown spoke for the first time in days. When he last spoke to the media, he disputed the idea that the Celtics didn’t fight in a bad loss to the Kings. The hits kept coming as the team nearly collapsed two days later against New Orleans and then suffered its worst loss of the season at Toronto. Brown looked out of it most of the night.

He shot 38.8% from the field and 25% from three across those three games and dropped to 44.9% FG and 32% from three for the season after Saturday’s loss to Atlanta. Although ineffective (9-27 FG), Brown became more involved on offense that night, posting 24 points and eight assists after playing deeper into the first quarter.

Jayson Tatum played two stints, leaving the game midway through the first, then returning after Brown reached nine minutes. The split between the superstars, which also happened the night before against Orlando and after at the Warriors, gave both players about nine minutes in a shakeup from the previous rotation.

“It’s something me and Joe talk about,” Tatum shared CelticsBlog/CLNS about the change. “For most of the season I played the whole first quarter and the third and then we talked about change, dynamic change, KP coming back, what’s best for our team, I started the fourth quarter or whatever and all of us have to just be open. It can fluctuate throughout the season, and when you know you’re going to play 34-35 minutes, it ends right away. The patterns change, but you just have to be open to it.”

Brown expressed several times to begin the season that switching away from playing the entire first quarter, his typical role across several seasons prior to this, was an adjustment. He repeated those comments Monday after getting back on track as the Celtics’ primary finisher attacked Steph Curry inside. Brown scored 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting and took three shots from deep, and Joe Mazzulla praised his physicality while posting up. While Brown’s efficiency dipped to its lowest point since his rookie season in the second half of the schedule, his shooting and scoring remained on par with last year and his assists increased.

He has previously explained that the new rotations placed him more in a playmaking role, where his 4.8 assists per game. game and 21.7 AST% both shattered his previous career high. His turnover rate increased by about a percentage point, but remained in line with his career average. Mazzulla’s adjustment followed a fourth quarter in Toronto that began with a 9-2 Raptors run with Tatum off the floor in the first four minutes. When he returned, he did not attempt a shot for the rest of the night.

“I think we just continue to use the versatility of our team,” Mazzulla said of why he made the change. “Especially when we’re fully healthy. Being able to get to different things that we can do. The guys do a great job of making sure it’s connected to the games and how teams defend us, but it’s just a different way for us to play, especially when we’re fully healthy.”

Tatum also mentioned that the switch away from coming out six minutes into the first took some getting used to on his part. That seemed to drive his MVP level to open the season, starting on opening night, when the Celtics first went to that rotation, and it allowed him to build and carry early momentum into games. It also allowed Tatum to set the tone for the team as his usage level increasingly correlates with their success.

Still, the Celtics struggled with starters for most of the first half, saved by Payton Pritchard and the bench on many nights. Then, when Kristaps Porziņģis returned, the starting lineup from last regular season went through a bizarre stretch of missing minutes through their first 10 games together.

It turned against Orlando and the Warriors with a little help from the new replacement wrinkle. Whatever dissatisfaction Brown felt in his previous role became the only known sign of discontent in the team throughout their uneven first half. Mazzulla’s adjustment offered hope for smoother sailing for the Celtics’ two stars going forward — though they could both benefit from playing off each other more in their overlapping minutes, averaging about 7.9 passes to each other per game. match this month. They typically share 10-11.

“You could say that,” Brown said when asked if the new lineups helped him. “I feel like I’m usually the one who sets the tone for the team, so sometimes I’m not out there when we have a slow start and I feel like at different times in my career it’s been me who’s been to turn it down. But second year, you’ve got to be okay with that. I’m not really complaining or anything. I’m just trying to come out and be the best version of myself.”