BOSTON — Celtics star Jaylen Brown entered the NBA playoffs Saturday with bandages on the index finger of his shooting hand due to a bizarre injury he suffered just prior to the end of the regular season.
And the ailment may be worse now after Brown led the Celtics to a 112-99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden in Game 1 of their first-round series.
“It’s fine,” Brown said. “You know, it split open during the game. It’s fine now.”
Brown didn’t rule out having to get the area re-stitched. The 26-year-old had five stitches removed Thursday when he returned to practice for the first time since cutting his hand on a broken glass vase that he knocked over while watering plants.
“I think it’s going to be alright,” Brown said. “I guess take a look at it tomorrow.”
Brown didn’t seem to have any issues dealing with pain from to the cut, but had to adjust to getting a different grip on the basketball with the protective coverings on his finger. It clearly was a work-in-progress as the two-time All-Star turned the ball over a game-high six times.
“It’s fine, especially with the adrenaline of the game you kind of just get it going,” Brown said. “But at times throughout the game I had to readjust it and stuff like that. I got a lot of padding on it. So, it’s a different feel shooting the ball. Just adjusting and adapting to the game, that’s it.”
Aside from the turnovers, it seemed as though the cut barely bothered Brown, who did leave the game briefly in the first half and vanished down the tunnel only to return soon after. Brown poured in a game-high 29 points on 12-for-23 shooting and added 12 rebounds. He certainly didn’t play cautious due to the ailment, either, throwing down a couple of thunderous dunks on backdoor cuts.
“I thought he was trying to just figure out how to play with it at first,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Just had to change the band-aid I believe. Thought he played well. Thought his shot selection was good. I thought he was intentional on the defensive end and I thought he did a great job of being locked in on both ends of the floor.”
With Game 2 of the series not until Tuesday night, Brown will have a little window of time to get treatment on his finger before trying to play through it again.
