Jaylen Brown was helped to the locker room after rolling his ankle on a drive to the hoop. (0:33)
Celtics coach Ime Udoka said after Boston's victory over the Atlanta Hawks that he is optimistic that Jaylen Brown will be back soon.
Udoka said that he rolled it. He tried to give it a go in the back and wanted to come back out and play, but just decided that the big picture was where we are at in the season and be smart. We will know more over the next few days.
Brown went down in a heap on a drive early in the first quarter, when it appeared he slipped or landed on someone's foot. After initially grabbing at his hamstring, Brown stayed down on the court for an extended period, eventually getting up and exiting the floor under his own power but with a limp.
The fact that Brown walked off and wanted to come back in gave Udoka confidence that he will be back soon.
Udoka said that he would hope not. You would hope not. We will evaluate him over the next few days and hopefully it doesn't seem like it. It can change overnight with swelling and pain.
Trae Young injured his ankle when he landed on Marcus Smart's foot in the first quarter. Young made the free throws after Smart was called for a foul on the play.
Young was back on the bench early in the second quarter, but he played the rest of the game, even though he admitted his ankle got stiff as the night went on.
He said that he could have played through the pain and that he was confident in his ability to do so.
It got stiff late. It took me a little while to get going after I got into the locker room. Hopefully I can keep it going as long as I keep it loose here.
The Celtics were able to turn the game on its head after the break. Young was held to just 10 points after the break as Boston used a 51-23 run to turn a double-digit deficit into a double-digit lead.
When asked what turned the game around for Boston, Udoka said that they talked about and showed at halftime. In the first half, Young came off clean too many times and got too many good looks, and it was a carryover from the last two games where we weren't our best defensively.
There was no yelling and screaming, it was more like, "Just get back to who we are defensively, what we have done." It was too many to have 21 in the first half.
Onyeka Okongwu entered the concussion protocols and was not with Atlanta. The Celtics guard accidentally elbowed Okongwu in the second quarter, and he left the game a few seconds later. The Hawks ruled the second-year forward out for the rest of the game due to the protocols right before the start of the second half.
After being taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okongwu is currently averaging 8.9 points and 5.5 rebound per game.
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