Jaylen Brown took responsibility after the Boston Celtics’ 102-92 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, pointing to a lack of patience in his late-game decisions as a key factor.
Despite finishing with 29 points, Brown went scoreless in the fourth quarter as Minnesota closed strong to secure the win.
The Boston Celtics came up short at TD Garden, falling 102-92 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a game that slipped away in the fourth quarter.
While Minnesota closed strong with a 26-15 final period, much of the postgame focus was on Jaylen Brown and his own assessment of what went wrong.
Brown, who finished with 29 points, did most of his damage early but went scoreless in the fourth quarter.
As Boston tried to respond to Minnesota’s late push, he looked to attack the rim several times in the closing minutes but could not convert. Instead of pointing to team issues, Brown took responsibility for his approach down the stretch.
“I feel like sometimes when the game gets away from you a little bit, you want to be more aggressive and sometimes you need to be more patient,” Brown said in a post-game interview. “So for me personally, I could have been more patient on a lot of possessions.”
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He expanded on that point, making it clear he believed his decision-making had a direct impact on the result.
“I don’t feel like I was as patient as I needed to be this game for my team. And I feel like that ultimately cost us.”
Boston struggled to find consistency offensively throughout the night, shooting just 35.8 per cent from the field and missing 24 of 33 attempts from three-point range.
They also lost the rebounding battle 56-53, which limited second-chance opportunities and made it harder to recover in the final stretch.
The Celtics are 47-24. They have been one of the best teams in the league for the majority of the season. Sunday was an off night rather than a sign of something deeper.
This season in 63 games played, Brown averages 28.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 47.9% from the field and 34.3% from three.
