Jaylen Brown provides an encouraging update on hip flexor injuries

Celtics

Celtics guard Jaylen Brown returned to motion Sunday night against the Bucks after missing 4 games with ongoing hip flexor issues.

He scored 14 points in 37 minutes on 4-for-13 shooting. Although it wasn't his strongest shooting performance, Brown said he felt improvement.

“It felt better today. Felt better physically,” Brown said. “Not quite there yet, but I was able to use my weight and explode a little better. So, I'm feeling better today. We're getting there. It's a long journey, it's a long season. It’s important to take care of your body.”

Brown said he realized he felt healthy enough to play the night before Sunday's contest.

In general, Brown has been durable throughout his profession. Before last 12 months's championship run, he played 70 regular-season games, essentially the most he has played since 2019.

He had two consecutive seasons in 2020 and 2021 where he was limited to 57 and 58 games, respectively, but in every other season of his nine-year profession he played in 66 or more games.

Brown said he knew prematurely that he desired to take some time to play against Milwaukee, with whom the Celtics have had several playoff matchups lately.

“I try not to miss too many games. “My presence for my team on both offense and defense is important,” Brown said. “This is a big away win that we needed, so I knew I wanted to make myself available today and I knew it would be a challenge physically on both sides.”

“We got their best shot tonight,” he added. “They came out, Giannis had an incredible game. Their teammates shot the ball well and we still figured out how to win. So I am convinced that this was my return game.”

Brown said he doesn't know exactly when his hip flexor was damaged.

“It’s been on my mind since training camp,” Brown said. “I played through it and it didn't really get any better as I played, so we decided it would be best to get some rest and call it a day. I think that did me good because today I felt that burst a little more. I felt a little stronger physically and able to go both ways than I had felt the last few days, so that's something to build on.”