BOSTON — Jaylen Brown does not look close to 100 percent on the court as he deals with a bone bruise in his knee. However, he’s not letting it keep him from playing effective basketball as the Celtics gear up for the postseason. The All-Star erupted for 31 points in 28 minutes in Boston’s blowout win over the Suns on Friday night but did so playing at a much slower pace than usual due to the knee issue.
Brown explained how the lingering knee issue is forcing him to make tweaks within his own play.
“Just learning to make adjustments,” Brown said. “I probably relied on my athleticism a lot this season. But like, using more of my skill, you know, playing a little bit slower, which can sometimes be a good thing. So it’s all about just figuring that out, and I’ve been using these games to kind of figure it out, and just take it one day at a time.”
One Celtics legend came up when Brown described who he is turning to figure out some tricks in his current form.
“It’s funny because he was at the game today, but before the game, I was watching some Paul Pierce footage, just getting to your spots, playing at a certain pace,” Brown explained. ‘And today I felt like I didn’t have my normal burst, but I was still able to be effective.”
Pierce was never the fastest or most athletic wing but the Celtics legend always found a way to get to his favorite spots on the floor, which allowed him to become to score the second most points in franchise history.
With Brown’s explosiveness uncertain to return this season as he battles a knee injury, Pierce is a smart player to look at when trying to be efficient at a slower pace.
“As we continue to move forward, I’m hoping to feel better and better,” Brown said. “But there’s no guarantee that rest or anything like that is going to make this thing better, so kind of figuring it out and going through it and getting ready for the playoffs.”
The Celtics have five more regular season games to experiment before getting nearly a week off before the postseason begins. In the meantime, Brown is looking forward to making the most of his situation, whatever it ends up being.
“Obviously, I haven’t felt my best over the last couple of days, the last couple of weeks, but you kind of just got to roll with the punches, I guess. It is what it is. It sucks. I wish I could share more details, but whatever my team needs, whatever I can do, whatever I got, I’m gonna give. So I’m looking forward to just taking it one day at a time.”
