data-mm-id=”_smdbb8q1k”>The Boston Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors, 140-88, on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. It was an embarrassing blowout for the Warriors as fans who tuned in to watch the game on ABC saw the Celtics end the first half on an astonishing 61-17 run. Jaylen Brown was especially good, scoring 25 first half points on 9-of-16 shooting. After the game the Warriors revealed that leaving Jaylen Brown open was their actual game plan. Draymond Green explained that they decided to do this 15 minutes before the game and while it didn't exactly work out, he thought it was fun to try. Draymond Green said the Warriors implemented the strategy to sag off Jaylen Brown “like 15 minutes before we left the locker room.”“I thought it was fun to try. I was actually all for it.”“It didn’t work. Oh well. We move on.” pic.twitter.com/SVuwRkCGCH— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 3, 2024Stephen Curry called their plan a "creative idea," which is an insult to creative ideas across the land. He also admitted that it was demoralizing to see the Celtics make shots the Warriors were "comfortable giving up."Ty&-hsheueiwofi pic.twitter.com/KvtIjrxYjZ— Ben Hustle (@BenHustle4) March 4, 2024Enough really can't be said about this apparent strategy. Not just because it didn't work, but because they were trying this against Jaylen Brown, who is a three-time All-Star coming off a season where he was All-NBA second team. While Brown takes a beating from fans and the media for his shortcomings, he's still a pretty good player. He's not a great three-point shooter, but he's a decent one, making 35 percent of his 5.7 attempts per game this season. And he's a 36 percent shooter for his career. This isn't Ben Simmons who refuses to shoot or, you know, Draymond Green, who isn't good at shooting three's. Yes, Draymond is shooting 45 percent on a whopping 2.4 attempts this year, but over the last seven seasons he's never shot higher than 31 percent from three. You have to wonder if during the creation of this game plan anyone actually said so we're going to leave Jaylen Brown open like other teams leave Draymond open? Probably not, judging by how funny the Warriors thought the entire thing turned out. And the worst part is, the Warriors won't be able to fine tun this game plan and see if the results are different. At least not this season. The only way they'll meet again would be in the NBA Finals and it seems safe to say the 9th-seed in the Western Conference that just lost by 52 won't be in the NBA Finals. Jaylen Brown might be though.
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