Back spasms force Brown to sit out again
MINNEAPOLIS — Jaylen Brown missed his third straight game last night, this time cutting a pregame workout short due to continued back spasms. The Celtics forward landed hard on his tailbone during a Nov. 24 game in Dallas. Though he said the actual injury has progressed, the spasms have lingered. “That’s what I’ve been told (can happen), but the injury feels better,” he said. “I’ve been having some back spasms, stuff like that, along with the injury that has made it a little more uncomfortable than I would like. I’ll be all right. “Pushed it, did everything like I was getting ready for a normal game, but there were some pains and back spasms. Just decided not to force it,” said Brown. “The tightness increased as I started to push it. I was doing full sprints, I was doing back pedals, doing what I could to push it, and my back started tightening up. But I still got in my shooting, stuff like that. But as of now they said it would be smart not to force it if I’m not 100 percent. I thought it was smart. Obviously they have a lot of time and research in their craft, so I thought it was smart to listen.” The schedule, or lack of the same, will help. The Celtics don’t play again until Thursday at home against the Knicks. “Extra rest can help my body when the team’s playing well,” said Brown. “When I come back I want to help add to whatever we’ve got going on.”
Smart ideas
Certain players are good matches for certain coaches, and it’s easy to see where Marcus Smart would be a natural fit for Tom Thibodeau, the Timberwolves coach who was Doc Rivers’ defensive guru on the Celtics’ 2008 championship team. Thibodeau naturally loves the impact Smart has had on the Celtics’ starting lineup over the last three games. “I think he’s invaluable to them,” Thibodeau said. “Over the past few years you look at his fourth quarter minutes he’s always had a significant role, whether he’s started or hasn’t started. I don’t know what he does other than make winning plays. He’s tough, he guards people, he’ll get to a loose ball and hit the floor, he’ll get to an offensive rebound, he allows them to do a lot of switching, he’ll guard big guys, small guys, doesn’t matter. He and (Terry) Rozier play well together. A wellbalanced team with a lot of different looks.”
Watch the film
Video is naturally a major part of Gordon Hayward’s life as he tries to re-adapt to the NBA. Much of what he remembers goes back to his last season in Utah. For that reason, much of what the Celtics forward now studies when it comes to guarding opponents comes from his time with the Jazz. “I think sometimes, depending on who we’re playing, if I didn’t play last year, a lot of times the only film I have of playing against that other team was when I was in Utah,” he said. “Certain teams, certain players cover things differently and guard you differently. For me, defending those players, everybody has tendencies, so sometimes that’s the only film, of myself, I can look at. “Some of that is knowing the defender, knowing if they’re going to step up and take the charge, or knowing if there’s somebody that’s just going to go up and block your shot,” Hayward added. “I have to look back at that a little bit to see — watching the film to see what the right play was, what I was capable of, what I can still do. It’s good to look at film, it’s good to look at film of good games and bad games, too.”
Starts on defense
Though the Celtics went into last night’s game in the midst of an offensive resurgence, Thibodeau understands the true nature of their core. “You’re always concerned about their defense, it starts there, and what they can do to you,” he said. “They turn you over and get into the open floor, the way they can shoot the three, Kyrie (Irving) puts enormous pressure on you, (Jayson) Tatum puts enormous pressure on you, (Al) Horford, but then you can’t overlook the other guys because they’re all capable of going off and having big nights against you. They’re sharing the ball, playing with pace, but their defense is the key to what they’re doing.”