Jaylen Brown might have thought he was still in Indiana playing at the All-Star game the way he was being defended by the Knicks.
Brown erupted for 30 points in the Knicks’ 116-102 loss to the Celtics Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, shooting 13 of 24 from the field and 3 of 9 from 3-point range.
He was firing away from the opening tip, pouring in 20 points in the first half before adding 10 more in the second half.
A three-time All-Star, Brown was primarily guarded by Precious Achiuwa, who often has been playing power forward next to center Isaiah Hartenstein since the Knicks have been without Julius Randle (shoulder) and OG Anunoby (elbow).
Achiuwa had thrived in the role, which he had not played much with the Raptors before he was traded to the Knicks, but Brown presented a different type of opponent than what he had been dealing with.
“Good player,” Achiuwa told The Post about Brown. “He had it going early. Just one of those days where he made a lot of tough shots, you just gotta live with it. That’s the game, sometimes.”
Achiuwa had mostly been matching up against more traditional power forwards, and Brown operates more as a wing, slashing from the perimeter and shooting from beyond the arc.
Brown was able to repeatedly use his quickness to get around Achiuwa as a result, constantly breaking down the Knicks’ defense in the process.
“I don’t have a problem with that [quickness],” Achiuwa said. “He made really, really tough shots today, and there’s not really much a lot of people could do about that.”
Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart, both more so wings than power forwards, took turns guarding Brown when Hartenstein went to the bench and Achiuwa moved to center, though the results hardly improved.
Brown’s 30 points marked the most he’s scored since Jan. 22.
“You’re not guarding those guys [like Brown] individually,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We normally have, Julius guards them, Josh guards them, but we also have to give the appropriate help, too. We know that. We have to make sure when we have matchups like that, we have to take care of it with your team. So our team awareness has to be better.”
His performance helped fill the void for Jayson Tatum, who produced an otherwise quiet night (for him) with 19 points. But Brown made sure the Knicks couldn’t capitalize on Tatum’s off-night.
It’s also a microcosm of the challenge the Knicks face on a nightly basis these days.
Without Randle and Anunoby, they’ve been overly reliant on Jalen Brunson’s brilliance and don’t have much of a Plan B if he can’t carry them to a win. But the Celtics have that plan B in Brown, and it made the difference Saturday night.
Achiuwa also wasn’t alone, as the Knicks’ defense got shredded as a whole.
The Celtics shot 57.5 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from behind the arc, and recorded just seven turnovers.
“Come playoff time, that’s a potential matchup,” Achiuwa said. “So I’m definitely gonna go back and learn from this experience.”