Rookie mistakes giveth, and rookie mistakes taketh away, as Brooklyn Nets first-year guard Mikel Brown Jr. learned the hard way in the final play of regulation of a tilt the Boston Celtics would ultimately win on overtime thanks to a fumbled final play from the Nets rookie. After (to his credit) hitting a late make from beyond the arc that put Brooklyn in position to win the game at the end of the fourth quarter, instead of dribbling the ball out and forcing one of Boston's players to foul him in the waning seconds of regulation, Brown went for a lay-up – and missed.
It was just enough to give Boston fans life, with star Celtics forward Jayson Tatum hitting a game-winning buzzer to secure the win for Boston as overtime expired. "I did see the open
lane," said Brown. "I thought I had a layup, but the ball was already slipping out of my hands, and (Paul George) was … coming towards my right side. I felt like if I didn’t go up with it, I was going to fall out of bounds."
"That was my last resort, in all honesty," added the Nets rookie. "I really can’t make an excuse though. There are a lot of plays down the stretch that I messed up on, that I take full accountability of and I’m going to be better." His read of the final play in overtime, however, was none such an example, by his own admission.
"It’s just a broken play," said Brown. "I blame me. We weren’t supposed to switch that, and I switched it, so I made a couple of mistakes down the stretch. That hurt us, so I’m going to take the blame for it, learn from it, get prepared for the next game and not make the same mistake again. I am definitely not going to forget this one at all."
Fans of the Celtics have dealt with plenty such mistakes from their young core of bench players. And while they can certainly relate, escaping a trap game that should have been an easy win ahead of a brutal November was a happy ending to an otherwise tough watch for those among us not rooting for Brooklyn to notch their first win.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Mikel Brown on how his late mistakes cost Brooklyn Nets upset vs. Boston Celtics
