Jaylen Brown’s elite playmaking saves Celtics in Game 5 win vs. Knicks

Jaylen Brown stepped up when the Boston Celtics needed him most in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series versus the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.

With the Celtics facing elimination and Jayson Tatum unable to play due to injury, Brown posted a near triple-double with 26 points, a playoff career-high 12 assists and eight rebounds, along with only two turnovers in Boston’s 127-102 victory at TD Garden.

Brown was efficient as a shooter, hitting nine of 17 shot attempts (3-for-5 from 3-point range). He didn’t settle for bad shots and just took what the defense gave him. The Knicks played well in the first half and even built an eight-point lead at one point in the second quarter, but the Celtics went into halftime tied thanks in large part to Brown’s 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists through two quarters.

Brown was super aggressive offensively but did it in a controlled manner. He drew nine fouls in the game — at least three more than any other player on both teams — including Knicks star Jalen Brunson’s sixth foul that knocked him out of the game with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter.

But the real impact Brown had on Boston’s win wasn’t scoring. It was his playmaking. Brown struck a near-perfect balance between being a primary scorer and getting his teammates involved.

This dish to Luke Kornet in the first quarter was a good example. Brown took advantage of the smaller Brunson to get to the basket, and instead of trying to shoot over the help defense of Karl-Anthony Towns, he made a tremendous pass to the Celtics center.

In the fourth quarter, Brown took advantage of a slower Mitchell Robinson and drove to the basket. Again, instead of trying to shoot over the help defense from Towns, Brown switched hands and made a great pass to Jrue Holiday for an easy basket.

Later in the fourth quarter, Brown hit a rolling Kornet for an alley-oop that brought the Celtics crowd to its feet.