Celtics star Jaylen Brown scores 50 points to crush Clippers after snub

Zack Cox, Boston Herald on Jan 4, 2026

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Jaylen Brown believed he was robbed of the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award. That he, not Jalen Brunson, deserved that honor after outpacing the New York Knicks point guard in nearly every statistical category during a dominant December.

Coach Joe Mazzulla hoped Brown would take out his frustration on the Celtics’ upcoming opponents. On Saturday night, he did just that.

Brown systematically dismantled the Los Angeles Clippers in one of the finest games of his career, totaling 50 points on 18-of-26 shooting as the Celtics rolled to a 146-115 win at Intuit Dome.

The 50 points tied Brown’s career high. He’s now one of just five players in Celtics history to score 50-plus multiple times (playoffs included), joining Larry Bird, Sam Jones, Isaiah Thomas and Jayson Tatum.

Nearly as impressive as his scoring volume, though, was his efficiency. Brown shot 69.2% from the field, 60% from 3-point range (6 for 10) and 80% from the foul line (8 for 10) in the lopsided win, which capped a 4-1 road trip for the Celtics. It also halted a six-game winning streak for the resurgent Clippers, with all six of those wins coming by double digits.

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard averaged 39.0 points per game during that stretch, but the Celtics held him to 22 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Brown spent much of the night guarding the six-time All-Star.

Derrick White added 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting, plus seven assists, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Anfernee Simons (15 points, 5 for 8 from 3) and Luka Garza (11 points, six rebounds, steal, block) continued to give Boston strong minutes off the bench, as they did throughout the team’s season-long road trip.

Jordan Walsh was replaced in the starting lineup by Sam Hauser but wound up having one of his busiest and most productive games of the season. The 21-year-old wing, who made 20 consecutive starts before Saturday’s demotion, tallied 13 points, a career-high 13 rebounds, two assists and a block in his 30 minutes, during which the Celtics outscored the Clippers by 24 points.

The Clippers boasted the NBA’s best defensive rating during their win streak, but the Celtics torched them in Boston’s highest-scoring first quarter of the season.

The C’s racked up 42 points in the opening 12 minutes, including 14 from White — who opened the quarter with a 3-pointer and closed it by drawing a foul on a second-chance 3 — and 13 from Brown. The Celtics’ headliners both topped 20 before halftime while going a combined 14 for 24 from the field (58.3%).

The Clippers also had a 20-point first-half scorer — and it wasn’t Leonard or James Harden. It was veteran big man John Collins, who capitalized on the attention his superstar teammates commanded by hitting his first eight field-goal attempts, including 3-pointers on three straight Clippers possessions midway through the second quarter. That flurry helped the Clippers cut a 16-point Celtics lead to eight.

Both teams shot better than 53% from the field and 40% from deep during a barnburner of a first half, which ended with Boston leading 71-63.

Leonard and Harden both upped their offensive production in the third quarter, and the Clippers continued to feast on a steady diet of corner 3s from their role players. Over the first three quarters, the Celtics watched the trio of Collins, Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. attempt seven 3-pointers in front of Boston’s bench and drain all of them.

But the Clippers could not keep pace with Brown, who did not miss in a 19-point third quarter that featured an array of contested and off-balance makes.