The vibes in Boston are immaculate with the Celtics looking like the team to beat in the Eastern Conference as Jayson Tatum rounds into form. But there’s one thing that has certainly caught the eye of Celtics fans in recent days, and that’s the status of Jaylen Brown.
Last we saw Brown, he was going to toe-to-toe with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday night, outdueling the reigning MVP and helping knock off the defending champions, and current favorites, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in one of the best wins of the year, putting JB right back in the MVP conversation.
Then, Brown popped up on the injury report the next day as questionable with calf soreness, and was eventually ruled out for Friday night’s game against the Hawks with left achilles tendinitis. That’s a very specific, and potentially concerning designation, but certainly not reason to panic.
Rest for Jaylen makes perfect sense
It was a logical rest day for Jaylen after the dominant showing in a physical battle with OKC. A rest night made plenty of sense as we creep towards the playoffs and a top-three seed all but wrapped up.
When Jaylen was officially ruled out for Sunday’s game in Charlotte, that’s when some eyebrows were raised. Brown was set to miss consecutive games for the first time all season, and seeing “achilles” next to another one of the Jays on the injury report is insanely unsettling.
But again, there were some positive signs and a very reasonable explanation. JB made the road trip with the team and was sitting on the bench, looking perfectly fine, even tweeting out “50 wins in a gap year” with a shamrock emoji shortly after the final buzzer. A sign that, hopefully, he’s not overly concerned about any injury.
A third straight missed game for JB would be cause for concern
Furthermore, the game on Sunday was the first leg of a back-to-back, with the second coming on Monday night in Jaylen’s hometown of Atlanta. There’s a real chance that this was a strategic rest game with Tatum playing in the first half and Brown set to return for the second leg while JT gets a night off.
Hopefully, that was the plan all along, and we’ll see Brown back in the lineup for Boston on Monday night, but if not, then suddenly there is a real reason to be concerned. He has been an iron man for the Celtics all season and has become their do-it-all alpha on both ends. Missing three straight games would set off some alarm bells, indicating he’s dealing with something real just weeks before the playoffs.
It would be a nightmare scenario for Boston after the season they’ve endured, especially as it feels like everything is starting to click into place. But for now, all we can do is wait. Ideally, this will be a nothing-burger, and JB will be putting on a show in front of the Atlanta fans in a few hours. But if not, this becomes the number one situation to monitor going into April.