Celtics notebook: Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday trending up after injuries

Jaylen Brown has yet to shake the knee injury that hindered him for the final two months of the regular season But he believes he s getting close The Celtics star shared a positive update on his status ahead of Boston s second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks I felt like the first round went well for me personally and for our group Brown reported after Saturday s practice at the Auerbach Center For me just trying to trend back into the direction of being and just physically holding my ground etc still making plays for our company Even with guys being out being able to step in and fill roles and help our company get over the hump I feel decent But now I m moving forward This round is a whole different ballgame different group different challenges so my focus is fixed on that Brown played in all five games of Boston s opening-round matchup against the Magic but he was listed as questionable for the final three He admitted late in the regular season as he sat out eight of the Celtics final games and was limited in several others that the posterior impingement in his knee might not fully heal in time for the playoffs and that prediction proved accurate Related Articles Jrue Holiday injury Celtics guard working hard to return for East semis What Celtics are expecting from Knicks in second-round playoff matchup Celtics to face Knicks in first postseason matchup since Why new account on Celtics offseason pact interest shouldn t surprise Celtics biggest question ahead of East semifinals Jrue Holiday s robustness Boston s first series was a positive step for the NBA Finals MVP though Brown played minutes per challenge against Orlando averaging points rebounds and steals while shooting from the field and from -point range His best performance came in Tournament during which he racked up points rebounds and five assists while co-star Jayson Tatum sat out with a wrist injury I m taking it one day at a time but I think I m starting to turn the curve he reported I think structurally everything is fine I ve had various other stuff going on but I think I m kind of trending in the right direction The Celtics elimination of the Magic was Brown s th career playoff series win tying him with Tommy Heinsohn for the most of in franchise history Challenge against the Knicks on Monday will be his th NBA playoff competition My playoff mindset has changed a lot Brown explained I see things so much differently just even the preparation for the playoffs or even like preparation for a series or even throughout a competition There s certain things that you show certain things that you don t show because ultimately everybody s watching So you let people think one thing and then you come out and you hit them over the head It s like just certain stuff that I ve learned over throughout a regular season throughout the playoffs is totally different And you just need to show what demands to be shown Latest on Holiday Jrue Holiday wasn t spotted when the Celtics opened their doors to reporters after Saturday s practice but head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned the rehabbing guard was able to participate He was able to do everything that we worked on Mazzulla revealed He s getting better every day Holiday whom Mazzulla has described as day to day missed the final three games of the Orlando series with a right hamstring strain The -year-old s availability will be an essential factor against the Knicks as he ll likely feature prominently in Boston s plan to defend New York s All-Star point guard and leading scorer Jalen Brunson On Thursday Holiday was revealed as the recipient of the - NBA Sportsmanship Award making him the first Celtics contestant to receive that honor He also won the award as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in - Mazzulla announced that recognition was well-deserved I mean he s both on and off the court just a very selfless human being Mazzulla declared He s invariably trying to be a great teammate not only to guys in the locker room but to his wife his kids the public I think there s a lot of guys on our unit that deserve that award but I m glad that he got it and he deserves it just because of the consistency of who he is regardless of the climate that he s in To Mazzulla the definition of sportsmanship is ultimate respect for your opponent and the people around you Holiday s relentless attitude he believes perfectly fits that criteria The way Jrue plays he has a respect for every opponent that he plays against to the point that he doesn t take games off and plays with a high level of effort and attention to detail Mazzulla reported That to me is sportsmanship the humility to know your opponent can beat you at any time and so you have to bring it every night The best thing you can do is respect your opponent and play the way you re supposed to play So I think he exhibits that At the end of the day you have to have the ultimate respect for your opponent your climate and your teammates and give the event what it requirements and he does that He gives the meeting what it necessities gives his family what it necessities and gives the group what it demands Porzingis eyeing improvement The Magic series was a roller-coaster for Kristaps Porzingis who was great in two of the games points rebounds two steals two blocks in Challenge points and five boards in minutes in Contest and dreadful in two others five and seven points on -of- shooting in Games and The Boston big man believes the ceiling is much higher for both himself and the Celtics Coming out of the series happy we got it done in five Porzingis stated As I explained before I don t think we played our best basketball I think certain players like JT played really well We had particular good moments and stuff But overall we can play a lot better especially myself And yeah that s the feeling that I have from that series And it s good we got it done pretty swiftly to get a sparse extra days for guys to rest their bodies myself included to heal everything and go into this series in better shape than we went into the last one Porzingis was drafted by the Knicks in but he disclosed that won t give him any extra motivation for the Eastern Conference semifinals He is excited to play at Madison Square Garden however I think I just inevitably love playing there he disclosed Honestly I love playing there on the road The first couple games were pretty crazy there getting booed and stuff but I think now the time has passed and it s not as contemporary anymore and I ve changed a couple teams already also So from that perspective it s just whatever but I love playing there honestly Event times set The NBA communicated tipoff times for three Celtics-Knicks contests Games and at TD Garden on Monday and Wednesday both will start at p m ET A accomplishable Encounter in Boston on Monday May would begin at p m Tip times for Games and at Madison Square Garden have yet to be reported Likely Games in Boston and in New York also are time TBD Match next Saturday is the only weekend challenge in the series so an afternoon start time is a possibility Off the rim Life advice from Mazzulla Very insufficient times does Plan A literally work in any arena of life So it s more about how hastily can you get to what makes the preponderance sense and how speedily can you control the things that can control