BOSTON – Jaylen Brown’s mind is telling him that he’ll be fine in time for Boston’s Game 1 matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.
But his body – specifically, his sore right hamstring – might have other plans.
Brown suffered the strained hamstring injury in the second quarter of Boston’s 112-96 win over the Milwaukee Bucks as the Celtics advanced to the next round where they will face the Philadephia 76ers.
Brown did not return after the injury, but Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said the 6-foot-7 Brown could have played “in a pinch.”
“We decided that was not going to happen,” Stevens said, referring to playing Brown. “With hamstrings … we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
Brown said that he will undergo an MRI on Sunday, adding that he was told that he’s suffering from a Grade-1 hamstring strain.
Boston Celtics
Grade-1 strains are ones that involve the least amount of recovery time, which puts Brown as questionable for Game 1 of Boston’s second-round series with Philadelphia.
“It’s a little sore. It could be worse,” Brown said. “Get an MRI (Sunday) and see how it feels and go from there.”
Brown said he did a move on the floor and “it popped a little bit,” adding that “it’ll be alright.”
Prior to the injury, Brown had been Boston’s most consistent scorer. He came into Game 7 averaging a team-best 20.5 points per game with statistics that were better in the playoffs than most of his regular season numbers.
If he’s unable to play in Game 1, the Celtics will likely lean even more on rookie Jayson Tatum who came up with 20 points on Saturday to help Boston advance to the second round of the playoffs for the second straight season.
“For him to come out and have the game that he had, be strong with the ball, make good moves, be assertive, be aggressive, find his spots in a game like this, that’s big time,” Brown said.