Kristaps Porziņģis urges Jaylen Brown to focus on health ahead of playoffs

The Boston Celtics have three games remaining in the 2024-25 season. They are locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and should be resting to gear up for the playoffs. However, Jaylen Brown is playing full-time down the stretch, despite dealing with a knee injury.

Teammates and fans alike know that Brown will be a valuable piece in the postseason. Therefore, many have urged him to take the remaining games easy so he's ready to go. Kristaps Porziņģis expressed as much after Tuesday night's 104-96 win over the Knicks.

"He’s a tough dude," Porzingis said on Brown, via Souichi Terada of MassLive. "He always preaches his warrior mindset and he lives by it. But to what extent do we need that right now? Maybe he needs to take care of it and make sure he’s going to be ready for the most important moments.

"So I think we just have to urge him to make sure he does everything he needs to prepare, to get it healthy and to prepare for what’s going to come. And I think he’s a smart guy. So he will. It just shows his heart and how bad he wants to be out there even for games that don’t mean super much for us right now. But that’s who he is and I appreciate him for that."

Brown needs to play 20-plus minutes in just two more games to reach the 65-game threshold that would qualify for All-NBA consideration. From an outsider's perspective, it appears that Brown continues to push himself in relatively meaningless games to hit the benchmark. However, when asked if that was his intention, he answered with a flat "No."

Regardless of the true reason, Brown may benefit from taking his teammates' advice and resting for a few games. He is listed as "questionable" for Wednesday night's game against the Magic.

Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore at Northeastern University studying communications and media studies. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X @LukeGraham05.