NEW YORK — The plan was to ease Jaylen Brown back into action, at least partly.
The 24-year-old All-Star was fresh out of quarantine after contracting COVID-19, unsure if he was even able to go for the season opener Wednesday. C’s coach Ime Udoka said they were going to give him shorter stints to alleviate any stress that comes with the physicality of NBA ball.
But anything preliminary was thrown out when Brown caught fire — and the Celtics needed all of his career-best 46 points to keep pace with the Knicks. It was just about a near-perfect night for Brown. Of course, the only thing missing was a victory as the Celtics fell in a 138-134 double overtime thriller to the Knicks on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
“I don’t know how I did it,” Brown said of his night. “I spent a lot of time in quarantine, thinking about when I was going to get back out there, just imagining, seeing the game, visualizing. And some shots fell tonight. Only had really 24 hours to prepare.”
The obstacles were no matter for Brown. He said he felt fine for the most part except for some irregular breathing, which is when “I could feel my heartbeat through my chest.” But he was transparent with the coaching staff, who pulled him whenever he needed it.
Brown led the team in minutes — by three seconds over Marcus Smart — as those short stints turned into long shifts. He played every second of both overtimes, both starring but also faltering when the fatigue hit. Yet he still persevered, though he did say there were some hiccups.
“Adrenaline kind of took over,” Brown said. “Once we got into like, that end of the first overtime and into the second one, I could hear my heartbeat. I tried to do my best to breathe and stuff like that. For the most part, I felt fine to be honest.”
It was an impressive night in nearly all facets for Brown, who chipped in nine rebounds and six assists to his statline. He was 8-for-14 from 3-point land and looked comfortable playing within himself despite missing the majority of preseason.
There were some growing pains, including some defensive miscommunication in the first overtime. Brown added he wanted the ball in his hands more — not necessarily for the sole sake of scoring. He said it’s a “responsibility” holding the hot hand and he wanted to make the right reads as a playmaker, too.
“It’s not about you gotta score or shoot it every time,” Brown said. “I think I made some really good plays and reads and we got some good open shots that we missed. But it’s the first game of the season, and to be honest, we got so much to learn and improve and to grow, so I was pleased with how we kind of handled things.”
The Celtics needed every bit of Brown on the court as he was a team-high plus-16. His career night was on the heels of an inefficient Jayson Tatum, who scored 20 points but shot an abysmal 7-for-30, including 2-for-15 on 3-pointers. But plenty of other Celtics chipped in, including Robert Williams III, Romeo Langford and others.
Boston was gashed defensively as the personnel didn’t quite match up. The Celtics missed Al Horford (health and safety protocols) and Josh Richardson (migraine) as their defensive options thinned. That left Brown looking to keep pace with the Knicks.
There were multiple times the Celtics were comfortably ahead but failed to cling onto their lead. There were scoring droughts in both the second and third quarters, allowing the Knicks to climb back into the game. The C’s showed some stubbornness by coming back from a massive deficit late in the fourth, but they couldn’t close it out in double overtime.
Brown said that was the one missing piece: A victory. But the foundation of this team looks like it’ll fight to the finish — and look to close out those games in the future.
“I don’t think we played as well as we possibly could,” Brown said. “I’m excited. I’m excited for this team and this journey. I loved our resiliency tonight. Came back down, made some big plays.”
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