SAN ANTONIO -- The Celtics will likely be back at full strength on Friday night in a nationally televised with the Spurs. Jaylen Brown made his return to the court on Friday morning for the team's shootaround at the AT&T Center after missing Wednesday's win over the Mavericks with an inflamed right eye.
"My contact, I guess from overuse or overwear, it just really irritated my eye," Brown said of the reaction. "So it didn’t get infected or anything, but I woke up and I couldn’t open it. I couldn’t see so I couldn’t play.”
The reaction will prevent Brown from wearing contacts for the foreseeable future, so the guard will wear goggles for at least the next week.
“I can’t put contacts back in my eye because you don’t want it [irritating] my eyes," he said. "I don’t want to say taken it, but you don’t want it to continue to be irritated because then it can get infected. And if it gets infected you can lose your sight. So I don’t want to mess around with that. So I’ll be wearing goggles until further notice.”
Brad Stevens said Brown will wear the goggles for at least a week as his eye recovers.
“I just got them. I don’t even – they’re not ready yet," Brown explained. "They’ll be ready a little bit later today. I had to go somewhere in San Antonio. I appreciate them for keeping it open for me last night and letting me go try them on and stuff like that. So I’ll have them ready for (pregame) shootaround today.”
While Brown will have to get used to wearing some protective head gear, Kyrie Irving will be playing his final game in a protective mask that he's sported over the last few weeks to protect a fractured bone in his face.
"I hope not to see it again," Irving declared. "I was hoping not to see it again for my career, but it's part of it."
Irving also joked that he was going to use some fun motivation to ensure that Brown's goggles don't impact his play on the floor.
"I'm not looking forward to that," Irving deadpanned upon seeing Brown in goggles. "I already told him the first possession I pass him the ball and he does something that's not Jaylen Brown-like, I'm not passing him the ball. Obviously, I'm joking, but I told him that."
Other notes from shootaround
- Marcus Morris is a game-time decision with a sore left knee. The team will make a decision on him after he takes part in shootaround. "I just go by what I’m told," Stevens said of the veteran's availability. "Obviously we try to know as early as possible so you can prepare as much as possible. Had a good idea on Wednesday morning that he was unlikely based on how he felt the day before, at least that he would be potentially not playing, so you can prepare. And then after shootaround today we’ll have a resolution on whether he’s playing tonight or not. That’s all good to know, it gives you enough time to prepare."
- Jayson Tatum did not fly with the team, but is expected to be in uniform on Friday night: "He did not make the trip but he will be flying in this afternoon," Stevens said Friday morning. "He was excused from traveling yesterday for personal reasons. So he’ll be in later this afternoon and he’ll go through everything that our guys are going through before the game and he’ll play. Barring any more snow in Texas."
