What’s going on with Jaylen Brown?
When the Celtics initially announced Brown’s knee injury — a bone bruise with posterior impingement — they said he’d be out at least two games at the start of the road trip. And even before the team headed west, he had already missed a pair of games before the All-Star break and sat out a couple of back-to-backs. If you trust Dr. Google, rest and recovery is the basic course of treatment for a bone bruise. Then why play at all? Why not sit out until he’s 100%?
After missing three straight games, he never eclipsed 30 minutes in the following three in Sacramento, Phoenix, and San Antonio. After scoring 24 points in a blowout win over the Suns, Brown wasn’t necessarily optimistic about his health, but seemed confident that he and the team would figure it out before the playoffs.
“It’s new for me,” he said. “I haven’t really had issues with my knees ever in my career, so just trying to find a good routine to make sure I’m prepared and ready to go every night. But it’s definitely been a challenge mentally and stuff like that.”
There’s no doubt that the Celtics will prioritize winning in the playoffs over everything else. However, there is this bugaboo over Brown’s eligibility for post regular season awards. Players have to play in 65 games to have a chance to be elected on to an All-NBA Team or raise the MVP. For JB, he can only miss one more of the final seven contests.
“To me, it’s more about supporting him with whatever he wants, putting him in a position. He always finds an opportunity in a situation in both things,” Joe Mazzulla said ahead of the tip in Memphis.
“We need him to be at his absolute best, but at the same time, god willing, a long playoff run. You’re not always going to feel at your best, but can you be at your best even when you don’t feel like it? He does a great job taking care of himself, putting himself in position. He also does a good job working through things and finding ways to be impactful. We just have to continue to have that balance.”
It’s that word “balance” that’s concerning. Despite what Brown and the team has said about prioritizing winning, these regular season Ws won’t mean anything if the Finals MVP is hobbled in May and June.
Here’s CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell on the injury.
“It’s the balance, right? What gives you the best chance, where you’re at right now — every day is different— what gives you the best chance as a team, what gives you the best chance as an individual to perform and do the things that we need you to do that you’re great at to help us win,” Mazzulla continued. “As long as we can maintain that balance, I think that stuff is super important. At the end of the day, he’s a competitive guy. Every day, he does what it takes to himself in position to help us win, whether that’s on the court or practice or what not. You have to reward that and he knows that balance, so you just work together on it.”
Brown has stressed the importance of playing and staying in rhythm despite not being completely healthy. No one knows his body better than JB and this medical staff has done such a good job managing the minutes of the entire roster all year. After winning 14 of 15 games including sweeping this six-game road trip, the Celtics are peaking at the right time. Let’s hope that Brown is on the upward trajectory, too.
