The Celtics closed their three-game road trip on a high note, but it wasn’t all great for Boston on Thursday.
The C’s completed a regular-season sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves, posting an impressive 117-109 victory at Target Center. The tough road win didn’t come without a bit of a scare, however.
Late in the third quarter of the contest, Jaylen Brown raced to the basket and threw down a huge dunk, but the Celtics guard’s loose grip on the rim resulted in a heavy fall. Brown noticeably was stiff after the crash and was checked out by the medical staff for several minutes, prompting a complete silence in the arena.
The scary moment became all the more harrowing when a stretcher was brought onto the court, but Brown eventually managed to work his way onto his feet and walk back to the locker room under his own power. From there, Brown was transferred to a local hospital in Minneapolis for further testing of a possible concussion.
After the game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens provided a promising update on Brown, who apparently might have dodged a major bullet on what initially appeared to have a been a serious injury.
Brown also was back on the team bus when the C’s departed the arena.
Despite Stevens’ update, it’s tough to imagine that Brown won’t miss at least few games until he regains full health. The Celtics, of course, will miss Brown if he does miss time, but the team has had a knack for picking up the slack when a player goes down. And with only 16 games left in the regular season, Boston will need a complete team effort the rest of the way if it wants to grab the Eastern Conference’s top seed.
Here are some other notes from Celtics-Timberwolves:
— Boston officially clinched a playoff berth with the win over Minnesota. This will be its 55th postseason appearance in franchise history, good for second in the NBA behind the Los Angeles Lakers (60).
— The Celtics’ bench continues to be a massive strength. The C’s reserves outscored the T-Wolves’ unit by a 42-20 margin.
— Terry Rozier improved his double-digit scoring streak to 15 games.
— Al Horford and Kyrie Irving delivered in the clutch for Boston, combining for 17 fourth-quarter points.
— Karl-Anthony Towns spent a bulk of the night being defended by Horford, who did a fine job limiting the T-Wolves’ star. Towns finished the game with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
