The Boston Celtics turned a corner on Martin Luther King Day.
Whether they can maintain the new course remains to be seen, but hints of what the team might put on the floor on a game-to-game basis for years to come was on display.
The Jay Team — shooting guard Jaylen Brown and swingman Jayson Tatum — flashed the first signs of just how devastating they can be with a strong supporting cast as they created chaos on defense and attacked at all three levels on the other.
The question of how far this team can go may still be unanswered with a lack of bench shooting and scoring continuing to plague the franchise as much as their inability to come out hard against the teams they are supposed to beat.
But, growing concern about whether the team can hope to make a deep playoff run after a spate of concerning losses has diminished with the win over the Celtics longtime rival Los Angeles Lakers.
The evening, punctuated with both the mirth of rookie forward Grant Williams tech-inflected 3-pointer as much as it was LeBron’s baptism by Brown in the third quarter, left an impression around the league.
Enough that Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins laughed with Williams after the whistle; enough big man JaVale McGee requested the Georgian’s jersey after the contest because he sees in Brown a future Garden staple, reports CLNS’ James Toscano — the subtext being the Cal-Berkeley product will be one worth keeping tabs on.
In the first matchup where the Jay Team were not playing Anthony Davis wondering if they might be playing for the team he’s on by next season, the duo were clearly there to make a statement.
They are here, their time begins now, and the league is on notice — message heard, loud and clear.
LeBron has been supportive of the duo since they came into the league, but this is the first time they didn’t just yam on the future Hall of Famer.
They took the game away from him, too.
To be fair, his right-hand man Anthony Davis was a shadow of his usual self, not quite recovered from a bruised posterior which had him missing several games. And to have home court certainly helped, as digging out of the early hole the team put themselves in would have been that much harder.
But a win is a win when it comes down to it, and the team will be closing out the more relaxed side of a very busy month with a win putting the wind back into sails that had been lagging of late.
There are still problems to be fixed, battles to be fought, and games to be played, but the Boston Celtics — and specifically the Jays — look as ready as they have this season to face them.
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