Celtics

‘It’s time to break them up’: Kendrick Perkins believes the Celtics have to split up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown

The Celtics lost again in devastating fashion on Thursday.

By Conor Roche

January 7, 2022

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email
• 3

Things aren’t going too well for the Celtics, and the team might have hit a new low over the last two seasons on Thursday night.

Leading by as many as 25 points against the Knicks, the Celtics still found a way to lose, falling 108-105 as RJ Barrett banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer. After receiving its most recent dagger, Boston is 18-21 and is in 11th in the Eastern Conference, which isn’t even good enough to play in the Play-in Tournament, let alone the playoffs.

As the Celtics stare down another possible .500 or worse season, former Celtic Kendrick Perkins believes now is the team to make major changes in Boston.

“This is the last thing I’m going to say, it’s time to break Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown up. It’s time to break them up!” Perkins said on ESPN’s “First Take” on Friday. “If you go back and you watch all the Celtics games, either Jayson Tatum is having a good game and Jaylen Brown is struggling or Jaylen Brown is having a good game and Jayson Tatum is struggling. Their body language says they don’t like playing with each other.

“Then all of a sudden, you get to this point and Brad Stevens says ‘Oh, we’re just going to see. We’re not going to rush it.’ You better rush it! The problem is that everybody in the Celtics organization is too comfy.”

Perkins does bring up an interesting point about Tatum and Brown’s scoring consistency. While Tatum’s averaging 25.7 points per game and Brown’s averaging 24.2 points per game this season, the pair have struggled to score together this season. In the 21 games Tatum and Brown have played together this season, only seven of them have Tatum and Brown both scored at least 20 points.

Of course, Brown’s missed 14 games this season with the majority of his absences being due to a hamstring issue. But last season, they each scored 20 or more points in the same game 30 times in the 52 games they played together.

More importantly, the Celtics have had trouble winning games since Tatum and Brown have become the team’s top two leading scorers. They’re 54-57 over the last two seasons, and while their record is better when both players are on the floor, it’s only two games above .500 at 37-35. Last season, that record still would’ve kept them in the Play-in Tournament.

This season, that record would have them in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference – which would put them in the Play-in Tournament again.