What Joe Mazzulla said about Jaylen Brown’s latest injury
Brown reportedly took a knee to the thigh early in the third quarter of Tuesday night's win against the Raptors.
Celtics forward Jaylen Brown missed Wednesday night’s game against the Pistons. The team announced Wednesday evening that Brown was out with a thigh contusion.
“He’s feeling a little bit better, but he was pretty banged up from last night,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “So, we were just doing what is best for him.”
According to The Boston Globe, Brown took a knee to the thigh early in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s win against the Raptors. Brown, who eventually returned to the game, was scheduled for further treatment when the team got to Detroit on Wednesday.
The Celtics lost to the Pistons 117-97 at Little Caesar’s Arena Wednesday night.
Brown has played in 49 of the Celtics’ 58 games this season. He dealt with a hip flexor injury in November and missed a pair of games with a knee injury earlier this month.
“It’s all mental,” Brown told the Globe. “One of my favorite players, one of the reasons why I picked up a ball, Kobe Bryant, and I listen to him talk about playing through injuries and how to take your mind to different places.”
“Sometimes getting injured in the regular season is a good thing because it teaches you how to mentally play the game or adjust. In the postseason, if you’re injured, there’s no excuse. People don’t care. They don’t want to hear that. It’s either you win or you lose.”
“Being able to get that information now and my leg was hurting and I was able to find a way to be effective.”
The Celtics were also without Luke Kornet, who missed Wednesday night’s game for personal reasons. Kristaps Porzingis (non-COVID illness) and Sam Hauser (lower back stiffness) were upgraded from questionable to available.
Boston will host Cleveland in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference on Friday night at TD Garden. They will also host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
The Celtics are trusting their process for navigating injuries despite having such big games coming up, Mazzulla said.
“I think we have great continuity. I think you just trust what you do throughout the season for that,” Mazzulla said. “And really, you’re just kind of doing what’s best for him. He’s a guy where he puts his body through a lot and plays so much regardless, sometimes you’ve got to save the guys from themselves. We just felt like that was best for him and best for the team but you trust the continuity over the course of the entire season.”
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