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Jaylen Brown took an elbow to the nose during the Boston Celtics opening playoff game against the Brooklyn Nets.
No, it wasn’t intentional, but as Kyrie Irving swung the ball towards his hip, Brown’s face caught a square elbow. The result was a bloody nose that required stuffing by the medical staff on two separate occasions. Luckily, the blood was not an indication of a break, and Brown is not on Celtics’ injury report heading into game two.
However, in a recent press conference, Brown revealed that he struggled to breathe once his nose had been stuffed in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
“You’re running up and down the court, and at one point I had both of my noses plugged in, I couldn’t breathe. But that’s playoff basketball, that’s what you sign up for. And If I had to do that again for that same ending, I’d do it all again. Finding ways to win, playing through toughness, adversities, injury, whatever it takes, find a way to win, and that’s what I plan to do,” Brown told the media.
Brown Willing to go The Extra Mile
It’s common knowledge that playoff basketball operates under an increased level of physicality. With the game a couple of notches slower than the regular season, bodies begin to bump and knock into each other far more consistently, and every shot is taken against the sternest of defenses.
To become an NBA champion, you need a warrior’s mindset, and a willingness to fight through the pain barrier when the game gets chippy. Brown, who missed last year’s playoff series against the Nets with a wrist injury, noted how he’s embracing the added physicality and is willing to do whatever it takes to help his team progress into the latter rounds.
“I got hit a couple of times in the face. That’s playoff basketball, there’s nothing else to chalk it up to. That’s what comes with the game at times. Some of the plays, you would like to see them get called, but at the end of the day, it’s war out there. Survival of the fittest, you gotta get back up, the ref sees it, he sees it, if he don’t I ain’t just gonna lay there.
I got hit across the face a couple of times, I’ve got a pretty good bruise across my nose. My nose was probably bleeding that night, every 45 minutes, just kept going and going. But that’s part of the game, that’s what I love about basketball, everything, not just the good things, the bad things come with it too. That’s what I signed up for,” Brown explained when asked about the physicality of the game.
Udoka Has Improved Boston’s Toughness
Before the start of the season, there was a ton of rhetoric surrounding the Celtics’ toughness, with accusations of them being too nice a common occurrence. Since taking the role of head coach Ime Udoka has slowly turned the Celtics into a physical team that takes no prisoners on either side of the floor.
Now, if a Celtics player barrels you over, he’s not helping you up, he’s stepping over you. If you try to play bully ball on the post, the Celtics are throwing their weight right back against you as they enter a battle of will.
“One thing Jerry (Sloan) used to say that I use with the guys is ‘tuxedo guys.’ That’s a kind way of saying a guy is soft. On every scouting report, we have ‘tuxedo guys’ and the whole team has kind of run with it. Jerry would say certain guys like to ‘play in their tuxedo’ you know, have a nice, easy game, don’t touch them, how’s your family? Nah. We’re not about that,” Udoka told Jason Quick of The Athletic for a recent profile article.
Judging by Brown’s recent comments, and the style of Celtics basketball we’re currently witnessing, Udoka’s message is getting across, and Boston is reaping the benefits. Hopefully, the new, physical Celtics continue to set the tone of the game against Brooklyn and grind their way into the second round of the playoffs at their expense.
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