Joe Mazzulla ‘100%’ confident Jaylen Brown will be ready for playoffs
Joe Mazzulla has no doubt Jaylen Brown will be available when the Celtics tip off their first-round playoff series next weekend Boston s head coach declared he s confident Brown will be ready to go despite the lingering knee injury that has limited him since mid-March I m confident in him because of the work ethic that he has the mindset that he has and the preparation that he puts himself in Mazzulla mentioned before Sunday s regular-season finale against the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden Brown sat out the Celtics final three regular-season games and eight of their last ESPN s Ramona Shelburne on Saturday communicated Brown received pain management injections in his injured right knee which Mazzulla endorsed It just was part of the rehab process for him to get back to be his absolute best Mazzulla disclosed He continues to take care of himself to put himself in great position to be ready for next weekend Mazzulla also Brown decided not to play in Wednesday s road loss to Orlando which came on the second night of a back-to-back Brown was the only Celtics starter to warm up for that championship with Boston eventually ruling him out shortly before tipoff Brown s DNP against Charlotte two nights later made him ineligible for All-NBA consideration as he could not reach the -game threshold for awards qualification He makes that call Mazzulla stated He knows his body better than anybody He knows exactly where he s at and he knows where he requirements to get to in order to be at his best when it matters majority The greater part major thing is trusting him and trusting his camp Drew Moore does a great job with him and our sports science band He made the call to just put himself in the best position and he s continued to do that The Celtics played all of their regulars except for Brown in Friday s - win over the Hornets then sat their entire top six for Sunday s season finale against Charlotte They ll face the winner of the -vs - play-in battle between Orlando and Atlanta in the opening round of the playoffs
