There’s new reporting on Celtics star Jaylen Brown and his ongoing knee issue

Locked into the No. 2 seed and with just one game remaining on their regular-season schedule, the focus for Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics is officially and firmly on defending their championship status this spring.

But for Celtics superstar Jaylen Brown, the ramp-up to the postseason has come with an apparent focus on his ongoing health issues with his right knee, according to a new report from ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

"Brown received pain management injections in his troublesome right knee this week in an effort to promote healing before Boston begins its title defense," Shelburne wrote for the worldwide leader early Saturday morning.

Shelburne added that Brown expects to be ready for the C's first-round series.

Brown's issues with his knee have been lingering around his game and the Celtics for the last month and a half or so, and with Brown openly talking about the injury and the limitations it's put on him following an Apr. 2 loss to the Heat.

"I've had to come to grips that every night I'm not gonna feel my normal self, but that doesn't mean I still can't make plays and things like that," Brown said earlier this month. "So, it's just something that we are working through."

In that same press conference, Brown alluded to a developing plan that the C's medical staff had for him to get closer to 100 percent for the postseason, which would align with Shelburne's reporting less than two weeks later.

Prior to his latest reporting, Mazzulla admitted in his weekly interview with Zolak & Bertrand that he didn't expect Brown (or anybody) to be 100 percent for the postseason, but lauded Brown's ability to adapt to such a situation.

"I think that over the course of the season or the course of, hopefully a potential playoff run, everybody's dealing with something," Mazzulla offered. "So, you gotta be able to take your mind and your body to a different level.

"And there's not many people better at that than [Brown] is."

Brown, whose absence from Friday's win over Charlotte made him ineligible for All-NBA award considerations, has averaged 22.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, but has also shot a career-low 32.4 percent from deep in 63 games this year.

The Celtics will begin the playoffs on either Apr. 19 or 20.