The Celtics have back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Week recipients, as the NBA announced Monday afternoon that Jaylen Brown has won the award just seven days after Jayson Tatum took home the honor.
It's the second time the Celtics teammates have won consecutive weeks, also doing so in the first two weeks of February back in 2020.
This is Brown's third Player of the Week award this season and seventh of his career after leading the Celtics to a 3-1 record from March 30 through April 5, with averages of 31 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.3 steals per contest.
Despite beginning the week with a 112-102 loss to the Hawks in his hometown of Atlanta, where Brown called his performance of 29 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and a steal in 40 minutes of action one of his "worse" in recent memory -- the five-time All-Star bounced back from a 9-of-29 shooting display and six turnovers to his East leading seventh 40-point game (43 points on 17-of-29 shooting, seven assists and only one turnover) of the season in the C's 147-129 blowout victory over the Miami Heat -- where Brown scored 20 points in the first quarter, as part of a franchise-record 53-point opening frame scoring output.
Against the Milwaukee Bucks, Brown scored 26 points on only 17 attempts from the field, but did go 10-of-11 from the free throw line, as the Celtics cruised to a 133-101 road victory.
The Celtics, who are 53-25 and have won three straight, averaged 126.7 points this past week that featured two consecutive blowouts in Miami and Milwaukee -- while Brown didn't score less than 26 points and has led the team in scoring over the past nine straight games.
Brown continues to prove why he is an MVP candidate, as he's putting up career number across the board (28.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists) and the Celtics are title contenders. With five games left in the regular season, they still hold the East's second best record with a two game lead over the Knicks and are now fully healthy with the return of Nikola Vučević from a finger fracture.
The Celtics are back at it on Tuesday when they host the Charlotte Hornets (43-36) at TD Garden and NBC/Peacock will have the tip-off at 8:00 pm ET.
Joel Pavón
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