Jaylen Brown couldn’t participate Tuesday at the Auerbach Center like the rest of his teammates as the Boston Celtics began preparations for their first-round playoff matchup.
Brown, who sustained a bizarre injury last week when he cut his hand picking up a broken glass vase and received five stitches, sat out the practice session, but the concern level for the star guard’s availability to start the playoffs remains low for Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
“It’s getting better,” Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “He wasn’t able to practice today, but he was out there for everything. Still no restrictions heading into Game 1.”
Mazzulla also said Brown is targeting either Thursday or Friday for his return to Celtics practice. Brown, who averaged 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game on the campaign, did not play in the final two games of the regular season due to the injury.
All eyes certainly will be on Brown to see if the injury to his shooting hand has any impact on his play as Boston looks to make a second consecutive run to the NBA Finals. Brown will probably have to knock off some rust, too, since it’ll be 10 days between games since he last played with Boston opening the postseason Saturday.
The Celtics won’t know who they will face in the first round until Tuesday night, though, as Boston awaits the winner of the matchup between the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament.
