Cal Basketball: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum Have the Celtics Rising in the East

The two young forward have helped once-struggling Boston win 21 of its past 25 games.

The subplot for the first couple months of the Boston Celtics’ season was a debate over whether the team should break up the Jaylen Brown/Jayson Tatum pairing. Trade one of the young star forwards — likely ex-Cal standout Brown — and retool the team.

No one is suggesting either be sent packing these days.

The Celtics won their third straight game on a West Coast road swing by at least 20 points on Sunday night, dispatching the Denver Nuggets 124-120.

Brown and Tatum fueled the victory, each scoring 30 points. They shot a combined 23 for 36 (64 percent) from the field and 9 for 16 (56 percent) from the 3-point arc.

Two nights earlier, Tatum scored 32 points and Brown 30 in a 29-point rout of Sacramento. The Celtics began their road trip with a 22-point win at Golden State. Brown is averaging 28.7 points over the three games, Tatum 29.3.

The Celtics visit struggling Oklahoma City tonight.

Jaylen Brown dunks against Dallas / Photo by Gregory Fisher, USA Today

“It took a little time to figure things out,” Brown told the Boston Globe. “And we’ve still got a lot of improvement, so don’t — yeah, just wait.”

But consider how far the Celtics have come. They were 23-24 after a home loss to Portland on Jan. 21. Since then, they are 21-4, climbing to a virtual tie with Philadelphia for third place in the NBA East at 44-28.

They trail second-place Milwaukee by just a half game and East leader Miami by 3.5 games.

The Celtics were a well-oiled offense against Denver, shooting 57.3 percent from the field and 47.5 percent from the 3-point line. They made all 11 of their free throws and totaled 29 assists. Defensively, they made life rough for reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, holding him to 8-for-23 shooting.

Still, Denver made Boston work for it in the fourth quarter, whittling a 25-point halftime deficit to 12 points.

“We’ve came a long way from the beginning of the season, from those tough stretches, and tonight it looked like one of those times we gave up a big lead on the road,” Tatum told the Boston Herald. “It just shows the growth of our team, how far we’ve come mentally, being tough on the road, going up big and obviously they go on a run, and you just have to answer for it.”

Tatum was actually showered with “MVP” chants from a contingent of Celtics fans in Denver. He’s averaging 26.9 points and 8.2 rebounds for the season.

Brown’s numbers are down a bit from last year when he scored a career-best 24.7 per game. But he’s at 23.2 and trending in the right direction when the games matter most.

“We’ve just got to take it one game at a time, stay healthy, and then the sky is the limit,” Brown said. “Beyond the sky, to be honest.”

Cover photo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown by Chuck Cook, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo