The Boston Celtics announced starters Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward will miss their second-consecutive game against the Utah Jazz on Friday night.
The team provided some updates on when the pair could make their return at shootaround Friday morning, via MassLive.com.
A right knee contusion caused Hayward to leave Saturday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, but Brad Stevens said he could return to action as soon as Sunday when Boston faces the Oklahoma City Thunder at home. The forward still is day-to-day, however.
“He got some treatment today, did some work on the court yesterday,” Stevens said at shootaround. “He felt pretty good when he was moving around but stopping and cutting, he didn’t feel 100 percent so he’s not going to do anything on the court today. They’ll retest him tomorrow.”
Hayward’s wife, Robyn, announced Thursday the family is expecting their fourth child, the couple’s first son.
As for Brown, who is dealing with a right hamstring strain after tweaking it late in the fourth quarter against the Nets, was anticipated to miss one week. He’s a little more hopeful than that.
“I feel good about the last 48 hours so I guess Wednesday might be the mark,” Brown said, per MassLive.com. “We’ll see about Monday or Tuesday. We will play it by ear.”
Given all the injuries the Celtics have dealt with this year, Brown wants to return as soon as he can without risking re-injury.
“I want to make sure this isn’t a reoccurring thing or keep happening,” he said. “So (I’m) really going to be really anal about every ingle detail of my recovery.”
Fortunately, Kemba Walker’s minutes restriction will be increased slightly Friday night from the 20-25 minute limit he was at in his first game back against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
