BOSTON — With the Celtics’ season coming to an unexpectedly short end, as expected, more injury news has trickled out over the past few days. That includes C’s star Jaylen Brown reportedly playing through a partially torn meniscus that could require surgery.
Boston president Brad Stevens, in his end-of-season media availability Monday, detailed more of Brown’s injury. The knee issue first popped up in March as Brown had to deal with it throughout the entirety of the playoffs.
“Jaylen wants to play, Jaylen’s a warriors, Jaylen takes great pride in being out there,” Stevens said. “And at the same time, he saw obviously our team docs and a couple of other people and as he even said a couple weeks ago, the knee’s in a good place structurally.
“And so I think he felt comfortable getting out there and going after it. And hopefully he’ll feel better after being off it for a couple weeks here. The unfortunate part is we’re done in the middle of May, but some of these guys who have some nicks, bruises and other things that it’ll be good to get some rest.”
It was clear throughout the playoffs that Brown wasn’t at 100% considering his burst and athleticism weren’t on display like in past years. Brown averaged 22.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists in his 11 playoffs games, shooting 44.1% from the field. It sounds like Brown’s knee issue shouldn’t be anything too serious going forward.
By the end of the playoffs, Brown shouldered much of the responsibility after Jayson Tatum’s season-ending Achilles injury. But the Celtics didn’t have enough left in them by the end, falling 4-2 to the Knicks in the East semifinals. The C’s blew Games 1 and 2 at home of the series, blowing 20-point leads, setting up a disappointing end to their year.
The C’s battled multiple injuries or issues throughout the playoffs aside from Tatum and Brown. Jrue Holiday had to miss the majority of the first round due to a hamstring strain. Kristaps Porzingis’ illness was mostly a mystery as the big man couldn’t make an impact during the Knicks series. But regardless, what’s done is done as Stevens and the Celtics front office look ahead to a potential summer of change.
“Everything Jaylen has said to me and said here I think that what I just said is probably the outlook,” Stevens said. “What was reported this weekend, that’s been something that he’s had for a while and it’s been stable. So that’s been several scans through and through. So, we’ve known that for a long time and he’s known that for a long time. But it just tells you, these guys care.”