Boston Celtics Have To Rely On Jaylen Brown Following Hayward’s Injury, But Can He?

The unfortunate incident in the season opener against Cleveland Cavaliers has dimmed the hope for Boston Celtics to dominate the Eastern Conference. During the game on Tuesday, Oct. 16, the new Celtics wingman Gordon Hayward had to leave the court on a stretcher with a gruesome leg injury. Subsequently, the Celtics must now depend on their young player Jaylen Brown in the perimeter. But will he be able to do it?

Without Gordon Hayward, Boston Celtics are still unable to create a winning strategy. On Wednesday night, in the first home game against Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics suffered another loss. Although Jaylen Brown once again led the scoring with 18 points, that was far from enough. Giannis Antetokounmpo outperformed him in the perimeter and scored 37 points to win the game 108-100.

Jaylen Brown joined the Celtics as the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. He was considered to be a good wingman, but Boston Celtics need a high shooting prowess in the perimeter. For that reason, the Celtics signed the free agent Hayward for a four-year and $128 million contract in July.

Initially, head coach Brad Stevens planned to pair Gordon Hayward with Jaylen Brown to add more versatility in the Celtics’ offensive end. Unfortunately, that expectation should be delayed.

During the opening game at the Quicken Loans Arena, Hayward suffered a horrible injury after he took an alley-oop pass from Irving. He collided with LeBron James mid-air and landed in the wrong position, twisting his ankle. The 6’8? small forward had to leave the game and could miss the entire season.

During the difficult moment, Boston Celtics needed someone to step up and Jaylen Brown seized the opportunity. He immediately took over the scoring responsibility and showed a wonderful performance in the season opener.

Jaylen Brown led the team in scoring with 25 points in the season opener. The 20-year-old player also grabbed six rebounds and three steals. But overall, the Cavaliers surpassed the Celtics to win the game 102-99. The 6’7? player said the main reason he took that chance was that during such an unfortunate event, there were two options to take.

“When you get hit with adversity there’s two ways you can go, either forward or backward. Tonight we chose to go forward.”

After the game against Celtics, Stephen A Smith from ESPN’s First Take said that Jaylen Brown will be a high impact player this season. However, in the second game against Milwaukee Bucks, Brown still lacks in many things and needs to elevate his game more. Watch Smith’s commentary regarding Brown’s impact on Boston Celtics below.

[Featured Image by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images]