BOSTON - Celtics coach Ime Udoka said after Boston's 107-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden on Tuesday night that he is optimistic that Jaylen Brown's right ankle sprain won't keep her out for long.
"[He] twisted it," Udoka said. "Obviously, there was some swelling and soreness. He tried to put it in the back and wanted to come back out and play, [but] just set the big picture where we are in the season and be smart. So we're doing the next thing." Will know more in days."
Brown went down in a pile on a drive early in the first quarter, when it appeared he had either slipped or landed on someone's foot. After initially catching his hamstrings, Brown remained down on the court for an extended period, eventually rising off the floor under his own power but with a limp.
The fact that Brown, who averaged 23.7 points and 6.3 rebounds, was able to walk - and wanted to come back - gave Udoka confidence that it wouldn't take long for him to come back.
"You wouldn't expect that," said Udoka. "He went by himself and then tried to back down. So you wouldn't expect. But we'll evaluate him over the next few days and hopefully it doesn't seem like it. But you never know; it's going to be a sign of swelling and pain." Together it can change overnight."
Hawks star Trey Young sprained his left ankle after landing on Marcus Smart's foot late in the first quarter. Smart was called in for a clear foul in the play, and Young made a free throw and then went into the locker room in Atlanta.
Young was back on the bench at the start of the second quarter, and he played the rest of the game - although he admitted that his ankle had gotten stiff as the night progressed.
"It hurts right now, but I think right now, the pain tolerance, I could play through it," he said. "It's still sore, but I feel very confident about my ability to play through pain and things like that, so I plan to play through it.
"It got stiff of late. I think it got harder going to the locker room at halfway and then coming out, so it took me a minute to run. But as long as I let it loose here in the next couple of days or so." Whatever it is, hopefully I can keep going."
However, Young's presence wasn't enough to stop the Celtics from turning the game on its head after the break. Boston began the second half with a 51-23 run to convert a double-digit deficit into a double-digit lead as it restricted Young to just 10 of their 31 points after the break.
"Raised the physicality," Udoka said, when asked what changed the game for Boston. "That's what we talked about and showed at halftime. It was a short carryover from the last two games where we weren't at our best defensive, and it obviously happened in the first half where [Young] was cleaned out several times and Met a lot of good looking ones.
"[There was] no yelling and screaming; it was more like, 'Just go back to who we've been on the defensive, what we've done.' And obviously, a 13-point third and a 20-point fourth are clear what we can do, and a big part was clearly stopping him. Having 21 in the first half was too much."
Atlanta was also dealing with the absence of big man Oneka Okongwu, who had entered the league's concussion protocol. Okongwu was caught out of the game seconds later by an accidental elbow from Celtics guard Derrick White at the start of the second quarter. The Hawks carried on for the rest of the year for the rest of the competition due to protocol just before the start of the second half.
Okongwu, 21, averages 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds, being taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.