Jaylen Brown will not play Friday night against Atlanta as he deals with what the Celtics called left Achilles tendonitis.
Boston downgraded Brown from questionable to out for its matchup with the red-hot Hawks at TD Garden. The team also changed its description of his injury, which initially was listed as “left calf tightness” on Thursday’s injury report.
The DNP ends a streak of 11 consecutive appearances for Brown, during which he averaged 26.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game. Of the eight games he’s missed this season, this is just the third that was not part of a back-to-back.
Brown sitting means Jayson Tatum will play without his longtime co-star Friday night for the first time since he returned from Achilles surgery on March 6. Brown, a fringe NBA MVP candidate enjoying the best season of his career, has continued to spearhead Boston’s offense while Tatum reacclimates, but the latter has posted encouraging numbers since his comeback, averaging 19.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals despite struggling with inconsistent shooting (39.1%; 30.9% from 3-point range).
Tatum is coming off arguably his best outing of the season, registering 19 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one block while logging a season-high 35 minutes in Wednesday’s 119-109 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Brown had 31-8-8 in that game, outdueling reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as Boston pulled away in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics did share some positive injury news Friday afternoon, as starting guard Neemias Queta and guard Derrick White both were upgraded from questionable to available against a Hawks team that has won 14 of its last 15 games.
Backup center Nikola Vucevic remains out as he recovers from finger surgery, but hopes to return before the playoffs. Boston has 10 regular-season games remaining and owns a one-game lead over the New York Knicks for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.