Celtics star Jaylen Brown reportedly received painkilling injections in knee

As the Celtics are set to begin their playoff quest to defend their title, Jaylen Brown is taking extra measures to try and be at full strength amid his recent knee injury.

The Celtics star wing received painkilling injections in his right knee this past week to try and help heal a bone bruise, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Saturday. Brown is expected to be ready to play when the NBA playoffs begin, Shelburne added to her report.

Brown has consistently been on the Celtics’ injury report due to a knee issue dating back to March 2. He’s missed seven of Boston’s 21 games since then, but had played in seven of eight games prior to missing the Celtics’ last two contests. Brown also kept playing despite the injury as he needed to participate in nine of Boston’s final 11 games to reach the 65-game threshold to be eligible for regular-season awards.

That issue seemed to come to a head, though, this week when Brown only scored six points as he played a season-low 22 minutes in the Celtics’ overtime win over the Knicks on Tuesday. He didn’t play in the game against the Magic a day later and was rested for Friday’s win over the Hornets.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t sound any alarms when he explained the decision not to play Brown down the stretch of Tuesday’s game.

“We just got what we needed to get out of him as he continues to push himself and test himself,” Mazzulla said on Tuesday. “We still got games left so we got what we needed to get, what we needed to see and we’ll just continue to move forward.”

While Brown has had some impressive shooting performances over the last month (he’s shooting 47.7 percent from the field since March 8), he’s seemed to lack the typical burst he’s played with through much of his first nine seasons as of late. He’s only dunked the ball once in his last eight games, a low number as he has 43 on the season. He also hasn’t played more than 30 minutes in a game since March 12.

Brown gave a bit of an ominous update on his knee injury after scoring 24 points in a loss to the Heat on April 3.

“I’ve got some stuff lined up with the medical staff in order to feel better come playoffs,” Brown told reporters. “But for now, just mentally working through not feeling great, but still [being] able to find ways to be effective.

“I’ve seen some specialists and stuff like that, but we’ve got a great medical staff, and we’ve got good people around. Come playoffs, my goal is to be feeling my best, so we’re just working through that.

“It’s a thing that we kind of manage and push through, but we’ve got a good plan in place.”

Two days later, Brown scored 31 points in a victory over the Suns. He told reporters following that game that he had begun studying Paul Pierce and the way he played because of his knee injury.

“It’s funny because he was at the game today. Before the game, I was watching some Paul Pierce footage,” Brown told reporters on April 5. “Getting to your spots, you know, playing at a certain pace. Today I felt like I didn’t have my normal burst, but I was still able to be effective, so I think that’s good.

“But, as we continue to move forward, I’m hoping to feel better and better. But, there’s no guarantee that rest or anything like that will make this thing better so I’m kind of figuring it out and going through it and getting ready for the playoffs.”

Brown will hope to either get his burst back or have a postseason similar to the one Pierce had in 2008, when he won Finals MVP. The reigning Finals MVP and the Celtics will host Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs on either April 19 or 20.