Jaylen Brown dealt with right hamstring tightness late in the Boston Celtics' Game 4 victory in Brooklyn on Monday, and coach Ime Udoka said Thursday that Brown is "just going to manage it with the strength team" as the second round approaches.
Udoka said that Brown "had it looked at" on Wednesday and has "been getting worked on" over the past few days. The hamstring tightness is not expected to sideline him for Sunday's series opener against the Milwaukee Bucks.
"We could say it could impact him," Udoka said. "We're waiting to see how he reacts to certain things this week. But expectation would be yes to play."
Ime Udoka shares an update on Jaylen Brown's status for Game 1 vs. the Bucks after the All-Star dealt with hamstring tightness during Monday night's game 🍀 pic.twitter.com/OneKCweleu
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 28, 2022
Here he is doing some post-practice shooting:
Despite right hamstring tightness, Jaylen Brown out getting shots after practice. Ime Udoka says team expects he’ll play in Game 1. pic.twitter.com/Ca1fiYqHCu
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) April 28, 2022
In a postgame interview at Barclays Center after Boston eliminated the Nets, Brown told NBC Sports Boston's Abby Chin, "I had some hamstring problems going in the second half." Asked about the severity of those problems, he said, "I'm all right. I think I'm all right. So I'm going to go get it checked out and I think I'll be fine for the next one."
When a reporter followed up at Brown's press conference, he said, simply, "Yeah, it's all right."
On Thursday morning, in an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub's "Toucher and Rich," Celtics president Brad Stevens said that there is "some concern" about Brown's hamstring.
"He was definitely tight, even the next day," Stevens said. "And so we're going to tread lightly this week, as we have a couple of days off, and then see how he's doing. But I think it's certainly something that we're going to be all over. And hamstrings are nothing to play around with."
Back in November, Brown was out for two weeks with a right hamstring strain, and, after returning to the lineup for five games in early December, he was sidelined for five more. When he came back for good, he told reporters that he "came back maybe a little too early before," adding that "hamstrings are a little bit tricky, so we were just taking time to figure it out."
Brown averaged 22.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 steals in Boston's first-round sweep.
