Mazzulla gives injury update on Jaylen Brown: ‘He's doing well'

Mazzulla gives injury update on Jaylen Brown: ‘He's doing well' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are playing at a high level going into the 2025 NBA playoffs, which is an encouraging sign for the team as it prepares to defend its title.

The Celtics are 12-2 in their last 14 games and wrap up the regular season schedule with a two-game homestand versus the Charlotte Hornets on Friday and Sunday.

The one concern involving the Celtics right now is the status of Jaylen Brown’s knee. The All-Star guard appears to be less than 100 percent healthy. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter or overtime of Tuesday’s win against the New York Knicks and sat out Thursday’s loss to the Orlando Magic.

It would make sense to not play Brown against the Hornets this weekend and give him more than a week of rest before Boston opens its first-round playoff series.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla joined 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak & Bertand show Thursday and gave the latest update on Brown’s knee.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing is just kind of trust in Jaylen, and trust in his work, trust in his process and also trust in the training staff and the sports science and the guys that put the time in all the time,” Mazzulla said, as seen in the video player above. “And so he’s doing well. I trust that he’ll be ready to go when it matters most.”

Is it realistic to expect Brown to be 100 percent during the upcoming playoff run?

“I don’t think it’s realistic to think that anyone’s 100 percent during a long playoff run, and I think that’s where the mental side comes into it,” Mazzulla explained.

“That’s where the mindset of just pushing it — I think that over the course of the season or the course of, hopefully a potential playoff run, everybody’s dealing with something. So you gotta be able to take your mind and your body to a different level, and there’s not many people who are better at that than (Jaylen) is.”

Brown has still played pretty well despite a decreased workload of late. He’s averaging 19 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from 3-point range over four games this month. That includes a 31-point performance in a win over the Phoenix Suns last week.

The Celtics have enough depth and high-end talent to win another championship if Brown is at less than 100 percent health. But to reach their apex, they need him as close to 100 percent as possible.