Jaylen Brown led the Boston Celtics to a crucial Game 3 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed handled business with a 106-93 road victory on Saturday.
Following a lopsided Game 2 home loss, Boston bounced back behind a strong performance from Brown. The 27-year-old scored 28 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the floor.
After the game, Brown called effort “85 percent of the battle.” While describing his leadership approach, he made a light joke about the opposing city.
“We got enough talent in the locker room to beat teams,” Brown said, per NBC Sports Boston. “But if we’re not on the same page and we’re not playing hard, those are when we get ourselves in trouble. So making sure, before the game at film and shootaround, talking to everybody, touching everybody, letting everybody know that, ‘Hey, we’re not here to play around.’ We didn’t come to Cleveland for the weather, so let’s go.”
Along with his efficient shooting performance, Brown grabbed nine boards and led the Celtics with a +18 plus/minus. Boston’s other star, Jayson Tatum, also delivered with 33 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists.
The Celtics have yet to play a close game this postseason. Each of their eight matchups, including a 10-point loss to the Miami Heat and Thursday’s 118-94 shortcoming against Cleveland, has ended with a double-digit margin.
Perhaps Brown and Co. enjoyed the South Beach weather more in the opening round, but Boston is now 3-0 with a 15.6-point average victory margin in road playoff games. The Celtics can take a commanding 3-1 series lead with another win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday night.