‘Punched in the mouth’
Brown says C’s will move on from defeat
As Jaylen Brown admitted, the Celtics got punched in the mouth during their Game 1 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday.
The Celtics forward’s own afternoon was fairly illustrative. After getting treatment the preceding week for a tender right hamstring — the injury has been an issue for him all season — Brown never found space on the way to a 12-point, 4-for-13, seventurnover performance.
Asked about his teammate’s rough day, Jayson Tatum said, “I mean, (bleep), we all had a rough night. Nobody should hang their head down, we’re in this together. All that matters is if you win or if you lose. I got all the faith in the world in JB, he’ll be better in Game 2. We all expect to play better. You can’t change what happened tonight, just got to get ready for the next one.”
Brown got more into a groove late, hitting a pair of fourth quarter 3-pointers right after Milwaukee opened up a 17-point lead with a 12-3 run.
“I mean, just got to continue to play your game,” Brown said of his path to recovery after a bad game. “As you maneuver through the season, you find different ways and avenues of stuff you got to deal with and stuff like that. But you find ways to impact the game regardless. So it’s no excuses or anything. We’ve just got to be better. And that’s it.”
Asked about his balky hamstring, Brown paused before saying, “I’m fine. Just got to come out, play basketball, leave it all out on the floor. There can’t be any apprehension, can’t be anything. Just leave it all out there and let the game say the rest. I’m prepared to do that, whatever that means. So just be ready for the next one. That’s it.”
The human pin cushion
Marcus Smart, in a sight that sent an alarm through the stands, ran off the floor in the first quarter with his right arm dangling by his side. He returned to the game after the injury was diagnosed as a shoulder stinger and a quad contusion.
He hit the floor again in the third quarter, again clutching his right quad following a collision under the basket. Such is life for the NBA’s new Defensive Player of the Year.
“That’s Marcus, that’s how Marcus plays,” said Al Horford. “That’s almost something you expect from him, even though he did take a beating today. I don’t know how he does it, but he finds a way to get in there. I told him tonight get rest. Get ready, and we have another one on Tuesday.”
Said Ime Udoka: “He took a few hits. Took two in the first half. I think the quad bothered him more than the shoulder. He’s going to play through a lot. It could’ve affected him offensively, getting downhill, driving a little bit. But defensively as well, he likes to climb up a little bit and be more physical. It probably affected him some. He’s getting iced down now and assume he’ll be OK.”
Hamstring protocol
Though Brown has sporadically suffered from right hamstring tightness this season – he was given full clearance in Game 1 on Sunday – the Celtics are confident that his most recent issue isn’t as serious.
“Well you get, obviously, rest, a week off was beneficial as far as that,” said Udoka. “The actual, I wouldn’t say injury, but the swelling or whatever is in a different area of his hamstring than previously before, and so that’s a different thing.
“Obviously, it’s not the same thing lingering from earlier in the season or in the past few years. It’s a different area,” said the Celtics coach. “As far as caution, we went through all the testing, his strength is the same as the other one. All the precaution and preparation that he did leading up to it the last few days have showed no difference. And so as far as that, he’s on no limit restriction, minute restriction, and he’s confident to go out. He feels good, they feel good about where he’s at and where he’s tested and all that is pointing in the right direction with no limitations at all.”