addByline("Taylor Snow", "Celtics.com", "taylorcsnow"); addPhoto("https://publish.nba.com/celtics/sites/celtics/files/adebayountitled-2.jpg", "Jaylen Brown prepares to drive past Bam Adebayo, moments before straining his hamstring.", "Michael Reaves/Getty Images","brown");
Less than a week after straining his right hamstring, Jaylen Brown is back in the gym and feeling better by the day.
The All-Star wing tweaked the muscle Thursday night in Miami on the last possession of the third quarter while attempting to drive past Bam Adebayo. Brown immediately tensed up after kicking out a pass to Romeo Langford and left the court after the end of the frame before the Celtics coasted through the final 12 minutes to a 95-78 win.
“It's getting better,” Brown said of his hamstring Wednesday morning at the team’s practice facility in Brighton prior to a matchup against the Toronto Raptors. “I got some good work in today. Working with the team, trying to get back on the court. It’s Grade 1, so it's nothing severe. But anybody who's had hamstring injuries knows it can be uncomfortable.”
Fortunately for Brown, most of his discomfort has passed. He says that he feels no pain at this point, only tightness.
However, Brown is still taking a cautious approach, especially since it’s a recurring injury. He strained the same hamstring in early March 2019, about a week before the season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though, he’s more optimistic about the severity of this strain compared to any he’s experienced in the past.
“As far as hamstring injuries go, this is my lightest one I think that I've had,” Brown said. “So I'm not overly concerned about it, but I do want to make sure that it's not an ongoing issue. [The medical staff] wants to make sure I do all the proper stuff this time to make sure this doesn't happen again later in the season.”
On Monday, head coach Ime Udoka projected that Brown could be out one to two weeks. Based on how good he’s feeling now, Brown believes he could potentially return on the earlier end of that timeline, though he’s still taking it day-by-day.
“Could be before then, just based upon how today's session went and how tomorrow’s session goes, and we’ll assess from there,” he said. “These things could last longer, or they can heal up pretty quick. So I think one or two weeks was about right.”
In the meantime, the Celtics will rely on others to step up in Brown’s absence. Dennis Schroder will continue to start in his place, and Boston’s bench wings – Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, Josh Richardson, etc. – will all need to rise to the occasion as well.
“We just have to rally around it and this is going to give opportunities for other guys to step in and contribute a little more,” Al Horford said Monday. “You can’t replace a lot of the things that Jaylen can do, but we just have to figure it out as a group when these kinds of things happen, and our team has to come more together as a group.”
The Celtics nearly came together for a win Saturday night in Dallas but fell three points short thanks to Luka Doncic’s miraculous game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. Brown liked what he saw while watching the game from home and hopes that the C’s can carry their momentum from their 2-1 road trip into Wednesday night’s matchup against the Raptors at TD Garden.
“We’re definitely building in the right direction,” Brown said. “I loved our spirit and our energy in Dallas. Especially in the second half, I thought we played well. Luka hit a tough, tough shot, but nothing to hang our head on. I think we should just focus on the next one, Toronto, and keep building from there.”
Meanwhile, Brown will focus on rebuilding strength in his hamstring, so that he can get back on the court as soon as possible.