Caris LeVert has slump-thumping showing in loss to Boston

Maybe Caris LeVert is a prophet. Maybe it’s just one game. Whatever it is, his shooting slump could be over.

On Monday, after a tough stretch that had fans whispering, “sophomore slump,” LeVert told the media, “My mindset hasn’t changed. The type of shots that I’m taking hasn’t changed. I just feel like at some point they’re going to start falling. I have confidence.”

And indeed, he should have. For now it appears that the 2016 first-round pick’s seems to be getting back on track.

LeVert, who entered the Celtics game shooting 10-of-19 over his last three games —after sitting in the low 30 percentile in his first 10 games— came off the bench, and in a 22-minute effort, 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting.

LeVert hit both his three point attempts, a relief considering he’s shot less than 25 percent until last night. More importantly, he mixed it up, with a balanced offensive attack of drives and short jumpers en route to his highest scoring total since October 24 in Orlando. That tied his second best outing of the young season.

“I thought Caris gave us a big boost when he came in,” said Kenny Atkinson post-game. “He’s able to break down the switches when they do switch. He can go by guys, go by their bigs when they do switch.”

The 6’7” swingman provided a spark for Brooklyn, and was a key component in the team’s second quarter rally where the Nets outscored the Celtics 40-28 from late in the first quarter until halftime.

“My teammates put me in good position to get easy shots,” offered LeVert. “That kind of got me going; that’s pretty much what it was.”

LeVert had said that the work he put in over the summer has kept him level-headed, optimistic and hopeful that the offense burst will follow suit. On defensive end, he hasn’t lacked, and still brings it on a nightly basis. He demonstrated that again versus the Celtics when matched-up against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and even Kyrie Irving at certain points.

With D’Angelo Russell still day-to-day, expect him to get more of a role as a ball-handler as well as a scorer.