NEW YORK — The Celtics are officially locked into the No. 2 seed come the East playoffs with three games left in the regular season. Still, the C’s were mostly at full strength in their overtime win over the Knicks, getting some fine-tuning done before the most important part of the season.
But part of the subplot from the overtime victory was Jaylen Brown playing just 22 minutes for the second straight game. The All-Star has battled a bone bruise in his right knee that’s slowed him down, which was noticeable Tuesday. After the win, Kristaps Porzingis urged Brown to potentially sit and rest his knee.
“He’s a tough dude,” Porzingis said. “He always preaches his warrior mindset and he lives by it. But to what extent do we need that right now? Maybe he needs to take care of it and make sure he’s going to be ready for the most important moments.
“So I think we just have to urge him to make sure he does everything he needs to prepare, to get it healthy and to prepare for what’s going to come. And I think he’s a smart guy. So he will. It just shows his heart and how bad he wants to be out there even for games that don’t mean super much for us right now. But that’s who he is and I appreciate him for that.”
Brown has spoken about his knee issues that have bogged him down the past few weeks. He took some time off to rest earlier but has played in seven of the past eight games. Brown also talked about the mental toll of his injury, where he explained he’s still looking to be effective even when he’s not as explosive.
However, Brown did not play to his standards Tuesday against the Knicks. He shot just 2-for-8 from the field, including 0-for-2 on 3-pointers, for six points and five rebounds. Brown has shown he can be effective despite the injury, like scoring 31 points in the victory over the Suns, but it was clear he was not as comfortable Tuesday.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t play Brown down the stretch, instead relying on a mix of Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Payton Pritchard. Brown said earlier he’s on a minutes restriction, and that was the case as he wasn’t on the court during crunch-time of Tuesday’s victory.
“We just got what we needed to get out of him as he continues to push himself and test himself,” Mazzulla said. “We still got games left, so we got what we needed to get, what we needed to see and we’ll just continue to move forward.”
Brown is still two games from hitting the 65-game mark needed to qualify him for postseason awards. He’ll need to suit up for two of the final three games to be eligible, plus play at least 20 minutes in those games. Brown said the 65-game mark is not why he’s playing through the bone bruise, but that remains a subplot in these final few games.
As Brown pointed out, there is value in seeing how he feels playing through the injury. He’s thinking the game more, he explained, examining how he can make an impact when he’s not just relying on his explosiveness. Brown also noted that rest won’t necessarily fix the knee issue.
But as seen Tuesday, there are times when Brown just doesn’t look like himself. Considering the Celtics need Brown to be healthy for the playoffs, how the team navigates the final three games will be worth monitoring.
“Just being there for him as much as you can,” Jayson Tatum said. “We’ve all been there to a certain extent. It’s tough. We work really hard on our craft and try to prepare ourselves to be at our best, and it’s tough mentally when you’re out there and you maybe can’t do the things that you normally do. So it’s a mental hurdle that you have to fight. But that’s why it’s a team sport. We have teammates that have your back, cover for you and just help you get through things.”
