Boston Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown landed hard on his back after trying to block a shot in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks and was forced to leave the game.
Brown tried to block a Maxi Kleber layup attempt with little more than 2 minutes to play but twisted in the air and came down awkwardly on his lower back. He rolled over on the floor in pain before the Celtics called timeout to stop play.
Brown struggled to sit up on his own and was eventually helped up by teammates.
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Brown told reporters after the game that X-rays on his back were negative but didn’t offer much insight on the injury.
“I’m hanging in there,” said Brown. ”I just know I fell, hit my back … X-rays were negative, so that’s good.”
Brown endured a bit of an offensive funk early in the year but had seemingly started to pull himself out of it in recent games, particularly as Boston shuffled its starting lineup, moving Gordon Hayward to a bench role.
On Saturday, Brown put up 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting over 30 minutes before the injury.
The Celtics played Saturday without Hayward, who sat out the second night of a back-to-back with left ankle soreness as he continues to work his way back from last season’s ankle injury.
Boston caps a three-game road trip in New Orleans on Monday night.
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