Jaylen Brown (left) goes up for a shot while being guarded by Nets center Nic Claxton on Friday night.
Jaylen Brown (left) goes up for a shot while being guarded by Nets center Nic Claxton on Friday night.Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press
CHICAGO — After Celtics forward Jaylen Brown played 45 minutes, 38 seconds in Boston’s wild 130-126 double-overtime win over the Nets on Friday, he said that he had been limited by a sore hamstring, a lingering injury from earlier this season.
He said that when Nets center Nic Claxton switched onto him on the perimeter, he should have been able to blow past him with ease, but he did not.
“I just didn’t have that acceleration tonight, and sometimes that can mess with your head a little bit,” said Brown, who scored 27 points on 9 of 27 shooting. “But, find other ways to be effective. Trusted in my teammates, rebounded the ball and things like that, and it led to a win.”
He certainly sounded like someone who would sit out Saturday night’s game against the Bulls, the second leg of a back-to-back. But after being listed as probable, Brown was activated.
“It’s where you just trust him and the team that he has,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game. “We’ve got great sports scientists. Medical team is great. Those guys do a great job building a relationship and it’s just a relationship of communication and trust and you just kind of trust those guys.”
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Still, Brown’s heavy workload, the quick turnaround, and his postgame comments made the decision surprising. Brown said Friday that at this point in the season, just about every player is dealing with aches and pains.
“It’s just the mental fortitude of it,” he said. “Injuries have a way of messing with your head a little bit, and your body. I want to be available for my team, but also want to take care of my body as well. A long, physical season, so just try to get as much sleep, as much recovery, and communicate with our staff as much as possible so I can be available for our team.”
Forward Josh Minott remained sidelined with an ankle sprain. Center Neemias Queta was cleared to play after being listed as probable due to an illness.
Derrick Rose getting number retired
The Bulls were scheduled to retire former All-Star Derrick Rose’s number during a ceremony after Saturday’s game. Rose spent his first eight NBA seasons with the Bulls and was named league MVP during the 2010-11 season.
“Obviously an unbelievable player and it was really fun to watch him,” Celtics guard Derrick White said. “A lot of things I can only dream about doing. I create my player on [NBA] 2K and can only do half of the stuff he did. So, we have the same name so I was always a fan.”
Getting after it on the glass
After being battered on the backboards at the start of this season, the Celtics have quietly turned rebounding into one of their strengths. Boston entered Saturday’s game against the Bulls tied for seventh in the NBA in rebounding percentage.
“It’s definitely a mind-set, effort above all,” backup center Luka Garza said. “The war on the glass is all about that, and I think from the top down what Joe expects of us on the glass is to have that relentless mindset, and we all understand that and go into every game knowing that if we don’t have that mindset we won’t get very many rebounds, because we’re not the biggest team in the world. Obviously, guys like me aren’t the most athletic. We need to have the mindset to kind of help us.”
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Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.