Jaylen Brown is going to be out against the Charlotte Hornets
The Boston Celtics still have not broken out of the worst slump of the season, and things will not be getting easier against the Charlotte Hornets. We have seen that the Celtics are not going to walk all over a team like the Hornets with the way they have been playing, and now they will have to do it without Jaylen Brown. (Via ESPN)
Brown was seen after the Christmas day loss walking with a crutch, and it appears there are issues that are keeping him on the sideline. The Celtics will always take the cautious route, and they will never put Brown at additional risk, even if they desperately need to come back with a win.
At the beginning of the year, the Celtics were able to overcome every and any injury that happened. They always found the way to get that extra edge, and it did not matter who the next person out would be.
Since that great stretch, the Celtics have not been finding ways to make up for issues like injuries, and there is no doubt that Brown’s absence will be felt in this one. On offense and on defense, the Celtics depend on a lot of what Brown can do, and right now it is hard to see someone fully replacing that.
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Losing Brown means the Celtics have to get solid scoring from the backup guards in Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier, and it is hard to trust their inconsistency as shooters. Everything has been incredibly hard for the Celtics during this stretch, and losing Brown will make everything harder on everyone.
Ideally, we will see Jayson Tatum take over a lot of that responsibility. We know he can handle anything that is needed on offense, but the real challenge is in becoming a defensive presence on the wing. The Celtics need a strong defender and rebounder in Brown’s position to make up for a lot of their size issues, and there is no sure fire option to add what is going to be lost.
The Celtics still know that they should be able to beat the Hornets, but that has made no difference over this stretch. The Celtics have been playing down to their competition, and doing far too many things to keep other teams in games. Losing Brown is something else that makes things easier on their opponent, and they know a lot of players are going to have to step up to break this awful stretch.
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Brown has separated himself as one of the most important players on both ends of the court for this team. Having him sidelined should not be the difference in the game against the Hornets, but the added strain could be too much for a struggling team to overcome.