Jaylen Brown is slumping. Not badly, but noticeably. We all knew it was going to happen, somewhere in the back of our minds, but we didn’t want it to happen. We wanted so badly for him to come out of nowhere (as far out of nowhere as a high first-round pick can come from) and be a 20 ppg scorer for the title-contender Celtics. Him and Brandon Ingram, touted as busts in their rookie years, showing the haters who the real busts were.
It was too much to hope for. Brown is still averaging 15, which is nice and actually way more than I expected coming into the season, but that opening-night 25-point breakout performance really warped my perspective on him. Perhaps this mini-slump is just what my mind needed to recalibrate itself into a healthier perception of him. Then, when he starts being really good again, I can be appropriately excited.
In the meantime, I will get inappropriately excited for Shane Larkin. Hell yeah! Did you see he had 14 points tonight without missing a shot? I know what vid is coming up next, and it’s not gonna be Kyrie Irving!