Celtics’ Jaylen Brown offers optimistic outlook after catastrophic collapse

The defending champs’ disappointing defeats were so catastrophic that they made history. They’re the first team in the play-by-play era (beginning with the 1996-97 campaign) to lose two games when leading by 20 or more points in a single postseason. To make matters even worse, they just so happened to do it in a single series, resulting in an 0-2 series deficit.

“Two games, we’re up 20 points,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown recounted. “Somehow end up not with wins. It’s inexcusable.”

Despite the Celtics’ offense collapsing down the stretch in two consecutive games, Brown wasn’t hanging his head during his postgame press conference. The reigning NBA Finals MVP understands Boston’s present predicament and is focusing on recovering on the road.

“It’s an opportunity to show what we made of,” he said. “Obviously, we wouldn’t like to be in this position, but we’re here now. So we gotta respond.”

Games 3 and 4 of this second-round series will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Knicks fans, who haven’t seen their squad reach the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000, will be hungry to witness a massive upset in “The Big Apple.”

During the regular season, Boston excelled on the road, posting its best record away from home in franchise history. It’ll look to continue that in this series because falling in Game 3 on Saturday afternoon would essentially end the Celtics’ dreams of back-to-back titles.

“We just gotta come out a little bit more poised,” Brown admitted. “Take a deep breath, convert on opportunities … We’re gonna learn from [our losses] and we’re gonna respond.”

Can the Celtics find life against the Knicks down 0-2?

The Celtics dominated last year’s playoffs so thoroughly that they never once trailed in a series. Boston’s current series standing marks its first deficit since the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. Although that unpredictable postseason battle nearly saw the Celtics become the first team to come back from an 0-3 hole, they ultimately lost in seven games to the underdog Miami Heat.

An 0-2 hole is more manageable, and the Celtics even overcame one back in 2017. After losing the first two games of their first-round series with the Chicago Bulls, the C’s rattled off four wins in a row to advance in stunning fashion. Brown, then a rookie, and veteran Celtic Al Horford were a part of that resilient squad. And while the 2024-25 Celtics are very different, Brown believes they have the right personnel in place for a similar storyline.

“We’ve got a great group that’s stayed together through it all,” he said. “So these are the moments where we need to show our resiliency — our toughness, our mental toughness. Because we can get back in this thing, no question. Obviously, being down 0-2 sucks, but we got a great group. And if I had to select the guys that could get it done, this is the group. It’s the group that we have in the locker room.”

Brown tied a team-high with 20 points in Game 2, but also contributed a game-high six turnovers. Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was the only starter to shoot over 50% from the field and six of the eight Celtics who took the court on Wednesday night turned the ball over at least once.

It was a forgettable outing for the Celtics, yet Brown doesn’t want his teammates to completely shut out that feeling of disappointment. Instead, he hopes they remember how the loss stings so they can avoid suffering that kind of pain again.

“It should sting,” Brown emphasized. “Let it sting for tonight. Then tomorrow’s a new day, and move forward — short-term memory. We’re going into a tough New York environment. We don’t have time to dwell on the past. The next focus is Game 3. So let’s do it.”