Jaylen Brown finished strong as the Celtics shut the door Tuesday on the Nets , but the path to get there was different from normal. Brown played just 10 minutes in a surprise first half as the Celtics went without their star player for long stretches.

C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said “we wanted to disperse the minutes” in the first half, leading to Brown‘s time on the bench. But Brown was unsatisfied with his start as he was blunt about how he played in the first half. At the break, Brown had six points, two assists, two rebounds and three turnovers.

“Nah, I was just playing like (expletive) in the first half,” Brown said, via CLNS Media . “Honestly, turning the ball over, etc. I just took a minute for me to figure it out. Kind of picked it up to close the game. Gotta come out to a bette

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