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Jayson Tatum wasn’t the only injured star on the Celtics.
Jaylen Brown finished the season while playing through a partially torn right meniscus, according to a Saturday ESPN report.
Brown, 28, will reportedly undergo evaluation this week to see if he will need surgery.
The four-time All-Star received pain injections in his knee beginning in March, the outlet had previously reported.
Brown did not play during the Celtics’ final three games of the regular season due to the injury, but he was able to return for the playoffs, averaging 22.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists during their run.
The Celtics quest for back-to-back NBA championships ended after Friday’s 119-81 loss to the Knicks, in which Brown fouled out late in the third quarter.
Following the Game 6 loss, Brown said he had been dealing with physical issues throughout the series.
“I don’t make excuses,” he told reporters. “Obviously, it’s tough the way we went out like tonight, but the way we finished the year, personally, the way I finished the year, persevering through some physical stuff that I was battling through, I’m proud of our group.”
Brown also mentioned how hurt he was by being knocked out of the NBA layoffs.
“Losing to the Knicks, you know, feels like death,” he added after Friday’s loss. “But I was always taught there’s life after death.”
The Celtics lost Tatum, 27, during Game 4 of their series against the Knicks after rupturing his Achilles tendon late in the fourth quarter.
Tatum underwent surgery in New York the following day, and he stayed to greet his teammates ahead of the elimination game.
“We didn’t talk about basketball at all,” teammate Payton Pritchard said Friday morning after Celtics shootaround ahead of Game 6. “It’s bigger than basketball now. It’s just seeing how he is as a person, how he’s dealing with stuff. The basketball side, we’ll handle that. Just wanted to check in as a friend.”
“It was really good seeing him,” Pritchard added. “Seemed like he was in really good spirits. Obviously, he’s probably about to be stir crazy for a while now. When you see one of your brothers, your teammates go through a situation like that, you just want to be there to comfort and [do] anything he needs.”
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