Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown missed Thursday night’s 109-98 Celtics win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center with a right adductor strain, an injury that could cause him to miss “a week or two,” per Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
“I anticipate it being pretty short,” Mazzulla said before the game, when asked how long Brown — who was ruled out a little over 90 minutes before tip — would be sidelined.
“Probably a week or two.”
Brown, who scored 41 points in Boston’s home win over New Orleans on Wednesday night, told reporters afterward he’d tweaked his groin and that he would get it checked out.
Mazzulla said Brown tried to warm up to play Thursday but was deemed unable to go.
“I’m not sure what the timeline is,” Mazzulla said. “I know he tried to give it a go today and wasn’t able to do it. We’ll know more the next couple days, see how he responds.”
Mazzulla said he thought there was a plan for Brown to get imaging done on the injury.
Brown, 26, is averaging career highs in both points (27.2 per game) and field goal percentage (49.8%) this season for Boston, which entered Thursday’s game against Brooklyn with the NBA’s best record.
“Everybody is expected to do more and everybody has to step up,” Brown’s co-star in Boston, Jayson Tatum, said postgame. “Guys get more of an opportunity and just got to make the most out of it.
“Obviously we need him to get to where we want to get to, but health is most important and we’ve just got to hold it down until he gets back.”
Earlier Thursday, Brown came in fourth for a second straight week in the voting for backcourt spots for the Eastern Conference for next month’s All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, trailing Nets guard Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell and Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden.
Meanwhile, Tatum is dealing with his own injury issues. After Tatum finished with 20 points on 7-for-22 shooting against the Nets, he was asked about several ugly-looking misses on jump shots throughout Thursday’s game, and if it had anything to do with tired legs given it was on the second night of a back-to-back.
“No,” he said with a smile. “If you look at my hand, I’ve got tape on my wrist, tape on my thumb, tonight I had to tape my middle finger and ring finger together.
“I got a lot of s— going on. But, you know, that played a part, just lingering things and it was uncomfortable tonight. But I love to play too much to sit out. So, yeah, I had some bad misses, but I would rather be out there trying to help my team win than not.
“So it’ll be all right. But, yeah, I did airball three or four times. But it’s good when you can laugh it off. We still won, so it made the night better.”
Tatum tweaked his wrist, which he initially had problems with during the NBA Finals, in the season-opening win over the 76ers, and then later had the issues with his thumb and, recently, his ring finger.
But when Tatum was asked if he might need to sit out as a result of the hand issues, he said that’s something he and Brad Stevens, his longtime coach who now is the team’s president of basketball operations, will be discussing in the days and weeks ahead.
“[That’s] something me and Brad will fight about,” he said with a smile. “So, when it gets to that point, maybe you’ll see me sit out, maybe not.”
Note: This artcle is taken from espn.in
https://www.espn.in/nba/story/_/id/35433957/boston-celtics-jaylen-brown-sidelined-adductor-strain
