CLEVELAND — Jaylen Brown was one of the more critical Celtics players of the team’s play on Thursday night after a blowout loss in Game 2. The All-Star forward called Boston’s defensive effort “unacceptable” after allowing Cleveland to post 118 points on the road despite missing a pair of starters due to injury.
Brown and the Celtics will have a chance at redemption on the road in Game 3 Saturday night but the athletic wing is demanding a mindset shift from his teammates for the matchup after watching the film.
Effort issues were on full display for Boston in Game 2, something that has been uncharacteristic for this group all year. The Cavs got easy buckets in transition on leakouts. Constant miscommunications and uninspired closeouts on shooters helped the Cavs shoot well over 50 percent from the field and 3-point range. The Celtics need to take those controllable issues away to get back on track.
“Gotta be more aggressive, more ball pressure, and just be overall, more effort, you know, it was a little bit lax. We could be a lot better,” Brown said.
Jrue Holiday is one of the Celtics defensive leaders in the backcourt and took on a similar tone to
