Jaylen Brown Remains Doubtful For Game 2, Won't Start If He Does Play
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Celtics are just a few hours away from hosting the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the status of guard Jaylen Brown remains the same.
Brown tested his strained right hamstring Thursday morning but remains doubtful for this evening's tilt at the TD Garden. He'll be a game-time decision, but it looks unlikely that he'll suit up as the Celtics look to take a 2-0 series lead over Philly.
#Celtics Jaylen Brown is a game time decision with his hamstring injury. He was testing it during C's AM shootaround- #WBZ pic.twitter.com/Trjqd5cvoW
— Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) May 3, 2018
Even if Brown does play on Thursday, he will not be in the Boston starting five. Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters that he's going to roll with the same starting lineup that beat the 76ers in Game 1, which saw Marcus Smart start in Brown's place.
Brad Stevens says we will use the same starting five tonight regardless of whether or not Jaylen Brown is available to play.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 3, 2018
Celtics president of basketball ops. Danny Ainge told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Thursday morning that the team is not going to take any chances with their 21-year-old guard.
"He's not 100 percent as of yesterday, but he's close. He's running, screening, jumping, but he's still favoring it a little bit," said Ainge. "We don't want to take any chances with Jaylen. We'll see how he's feeling before the game."
In the absence of Kyrie Irving, Brown is one of the young Celtics to emerge as a star this postseason. He averaged 17.9 points per game in Boston's first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks while also playing a big role in Boston's defense.