Celtics All-Star wing Jaylen Brown has seen his injury status upgraded ahead of Boston’s Sunday tilt against Oklahoma City. Per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link), the 6’6″ forward will play his first game of 2025 after sitting out with a right shoulder strain since New Year’s Eve.
The 28-year-old has been in fine form when he has played for the 26-9 Celtics. Brown is averaging 24.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals a night through 28 healthy games. The reigning Finals MVP is logging shooting splits of .461/.332/.734. The Cal product seems well on his way to earning at least his fourth All-Star berth, as well as potentially even his second All-NBA Team appearance.
As Noa Dalzell of CLNS Sports tweets, Brown’s availability marks the first time in 17 games that Boston will be fielding a fully healthy rotation.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns seems to have dodged a major injury after exiting an eventual 139-126 Saturday loss to the Bulls late, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Towns departed the game with just over 90 seconds remaining after incurring a hard foul from Nikola Vucevic while attempting a layup. He was able to walk under his own power, albeit with a noticeable limp. New York ultimately decided that major testing was unnecessary. “I got hit,” Towns said. “I was going to go for a dunk. Saw [Coby White] was probably not going to give it to me, and then I switched hands, tried to do my best Michael Jordan impression… It hurt. Really all I saw was an and-1 that was too late to help us win. Honest to God, I didn’t even know I made it.”
- Despite leading Chicago 72-63 at the break, the Knicks seemed to lose their verve in the second half, notes Bondy in another piece. New York was outscored 41-17 in the third quarter and essentially never recovered. In fairness, the Knicks were playing the second game of a back-to-back set, having also lost to the West-leading Thunder on Friday. “Back-to-backs are part of the league,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said, conceding that his team losing steam could be the result of a Chicago energy advantage. “Couple that with [the Bulls] were off for three days. I knew they were going to be high energy. And I thought offensively we scored plenty. Defensively, we have to do better.
- First-year Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has heaped high praise on young two-way player Tyrese Martin, writes Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. With injuries to forward Cameron Johnson and guards Cam Thomas, D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons, Brooklyn had to lean on some bench depth for help against the Sixers in a blowout loss Saturday. Martin chipped in 16 points, five boards and three dimes. “Tyrese has been great the whole year,” Fernandez said. “He’s been consistent. Consistent in the rotation, for the most part, and he’s taking advantage of his opportunities. It starts, not just right now, it starts in the summer. He was fighting for a two-way spot. He did all the right things every single day… And now he’s getting NBA minutes and doing a great job.”