Celtics star Jaylen Brown is considered \u201cday to day\u201d with Achilles tendonitis, according to head coach Joe Mazzulla.<\/p>\n
Boston, which initially announced Brown\u2019s injury as \u201cleft calf tightness,\u201d downgraded him from questionable to out<\/a> ahead of Friday night\u2019s matchup with the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden.<\/p>\n In his pregame news conference, Mazzulla would not say whether the injury could sideline Brown for multiple games.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s day to day,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cHe was in today, getting treatment. He\u2019s day to day.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked specifically about Brown\u2019s return timeline, Mazzulla reiterated: \u201cDay to day, yes. I think that\u2019s the timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n The Celtics coach said Brown \u201cwas just a little bit banged up after Wednesday\u2019s game\u201d \u2014 a 119-109 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in which Brown tallied 31 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and 12 free throws on 14 attempts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s DNP ended a streak of 11 consecutive appearances for Brown, who\u2019s scored at least 29 points in six of his last seven appearances. Of the eight games he\u2019s missed this season, this was just the third that was not part of a back-to-back.<\/p>\n Brown has played his way into the NBA MVP conversation during the best season of his 10-year career, posting impressive numbers both before and after co-star Jayson Tatum\u2019s return from Achilles surgery on March 6. The 29-year-old is on pace to become just the third player in Celtics history \u2014 along with Larry Bird and John Havlicek \u2014 and 17th player in NBA history to average at least 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game in a season.<\/p>\n The matchup with the Hawks \u2014 who entered Friday with a 14-1 record in their last 15 games \u2014 was the first game this season that Tatum played and Brown did not. The former logged a season-high 35 minutes against OKC, finishing with 19-12-7, three steals and one block.<\/p>\n Boston upgraded starters Neemias Queta (right thumb sprain) and Derrick White (right knee contusion) from questionable to available before Friday\u2019s contest. Backup center Nikola Vucevic remained sidelined as he recovered from a fractured ring finger, from which he expects to return before the playoffs.<\/p>\n The Celtics face more playoff seeding uncertainty than they did at this point in either of the last two seasons. After being all but locked into the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds by mid-March in 2024 and 2025, respectively, they\u2019re now in a tight race with the Knicks for second in the East. New York sat a game back of Boston entering Friday\u2019s action, with Detroit holding a comfortable 4 1\/2-game cushion atop the conference standings.<\/p>\n Mazzulla, who rested many of his starters down the stretch in \u201924 and \u201925, was asked how the playoff race would impact his roster management over the final 10 regular-season games.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just always going to do what gives us the best chance to win every single night, and I think that\u2019s just how we have to do it regardless,\u201d he said. \u201cEven when it was (locked up), we still did what gave us the best chance to win. I think we just stay consistent in that.\u201d<\/p>\n