Jaylen Brown had big blunder on James Harden’s game-winner

Jaylen Brown just gave the Philadelphia 76ers new life with a low-IQ play at the end of Game 4 of their second-round series.

Brown and the Boston Celtics were leading 115-113 with under 24 seconds left in overtime. 76ers center Joel Embiid had the ball in the high post and made a move on his defender, Jayson Tatum. Despite Tatum managing to stay in front of Embiid, Brown, who was defending James Harden in the short corner, rotated over to double-team Embiid. That left Harden wide-open for the game-winning triple, which he splashed after Embiid dished him the ball. The 76ers then held on to win 116-115.

HARDEN. DAGGER. 🗡️ pic.twitter.com/itiNqJgpyy

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 7, 2023

It is tough to overstate how bad of a play that was by Brown. Had he stayed home on his defensive assignment, the worst-case scenario would have been a two-pointer to tie the game by Embiid. The Celtics could have then run the clock all the way down and either won the game or gone to double overtime. But Brown’s blunder opened up the one outcome where it was possible for the Celtics to lose in that situation.

To make matters worse, Harden, a 38.5 percent three-point shooter this season, was already cooking on Sunday prior to that game-winner. He had 39 points on 15-for-22 shooting with five triples before the final offensive possession. His game-winner that Brown left him open for was Harden’s sixth trey of the contest (giving him 42 points overall).

If the Celtics’ strategy was to double-team Embiid once he made his move in the post (which it really shouldn’t have been with a two-point lead and the chance for the final shot), the double should have come from the other side. PJ Tucker was stationed in the other corner, and while he is a strong shooter from the corner, he was only 1-for-4 on his three-point attempts on Sunday (finishing with six total points). Embiid swinging it to Tucker would have been a tougher, off-balance pass as well.

A cardinal rule for many NBA coaches is “never help one pass away.” Yet that is exactly what Brown did in leaving Harden wide open for the Game 4 winner. Now the series heads back to Boston tied 2-2, and all the Celtics can do right now is lick their wounds (especially since they had another major blunder on the game’s final possession).