Celtics’ Walker struggles with his minutes restriction since return
Boston — Kemba Walker could be in a hospital bed and grate at the notion of having his playing time monitored.
And Friday night, when the Celtics guard struggled to score 13 points in 27 heavily managed minutes — Brad Stevens used him in what the coach described as short stints to ease the strain on the guard's left knee —the process wasn't any smoother.
"It's tough. It's tough," said Walker. "Obviously I'm just coming in and out the game pretty fast. But it'll come, I guess.
“Just gotta keep working through it and trying my hardest not to frustrate myself."
Asked whether he's been told if the minutes restriction will be lifted soon, Walker said.
"It goes day by day, so not yet. Hopefully soon. Just take my time with it.
"I don't know if there are any good ways (to handle it). I'm used to playing big minutes, so."
The good news is that Walker made it through the night without experiencing pain in his knee.
"It felt good, man. Definitely trending upward and I'm feeling good," he said. "Today was the best I felt in a little while, so I'm happy about that."
Empty arenas? No way
According to a report from The Athletic, the NBA has asked teams to prepare for playing games in empty arenas if the Coronavirus epidemic spreads in this country. That would be horrible, said Walker.
"For real? That would be terrible. That would be boring," said Walker. "They might as well cancel the whole game before that. That would suck. But at the end of the day, it is getting serious. I don't know. It would be very weird though for sure."
Brown hopes for quick return
It could be Brown.
"That's how I see it. Just trying to get better every single day and get back out there," the Celtics forward said of a hamstring injury, suffered worse, says Jaylen in the second half of this week's loss to the Nets, that cost the Celtics forward his second straight game last night against Utah.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Brown would need at least a week to come back from the injury, though Brown was naturally hoping for something quicker.
"Yeah, possibly a little earlier. I feel good about the last 48 hours so I guess Wednesday might be the mark," he said of an upcoming road trip that swings through Indiana and Milwaukee next week. "We'll see about Monday or Tuesday. We will play it by ear.
"Just trying to gain some ground every single day, gain some more mobility back, things like that to try to heal," said Brown. "Giving it some time to heal. Hamstrings are tough.
“Try to work through the soft tissue to make sure I get a full healthy recovery.
"Health is wealth, so I want to make sure this isn't a reoccurring thing or keep happening. So (I'm) really going to be really anal about every single detail of my recovery."