Jaylen Brown won’t require surgery for his facial fracture, Celtics president Brad Stevens said on Friday. Brown, who went down to a facial facture injury in the Celtics’ 106-99 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, missed a three-pointer from the corner during the Sixers game, went in for a rebound and was caught by an elbow on the left side of his face from teammate Jayson Tatum on the play. Brown exited the game with 1:27 to go in the second quarter and did not return for the night.
“I hope he’s all right,” Tatum said in the post-game. “We both went for the rebound, collided … just a freak accident. I feel terrible. So, I just hope he’s going to be all right.”
The news that Jaylen Brown won’t require surgery for his facial fracture is promising news considering how much considerable pain Brown seemed to be in following the elbow and that the first place Celtics (36-19) are still trying to build some breathing room between themselves and the second place Milwaukee Bucks (38-17) in the Eastern Conference standings.
Stevens said that Brown had been fitted with a protective mask, which Brown hinted at himself on his Twitter account.
“He’s still feeling it. It doesn’t feel great,” Stevens said. “We’ll see how he feels when he starts moving around. Then we’ll get together early in the week and kind of figure out what’s next. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to be too long, which is a good thing.”
Stevens added that Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who missed his ninth straight game on Friday with a sprained right ankle, is also nearing a return on his injury timetable but is still experiencing pain.
What do you think of the news that Jaylen Brown won’t require surgery for his facial fracture? Are the Celtics looking like the team to beat in the Eastern conference this season? Let us know what you think in the comments.
