Kristaps Porzingis urges Jaylen Brown to rest his injured knee

Celtics

Brown is playing through pain as the Celtics wrap up the regular-season.

Jaylen Brown is playing through knee pain during this final stretch of the regular season.

With three games left, the Celtics are no longer fighting for playoff position. They are locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Brown said his decision to play is not related the NBA’s 65-game threshold for postseason awards eligibility. With 63 appearances, he has to play two of the next three games to be eligible.

He said the remaining regular-season games are opportunities to experiment with his game as he gets used to managing the injury.

Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said he would like to see Brown get more rest ahead of the playoffs.

“He’s a tough dude,” Porzingis said. “He always preaches his warrior mind-set 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 encourage him to make sure he does everything he needs to prepare, to get it healthy, and to prepare for what is going to come,” he added. “I think he’s a smart guy, so he will. It just shows his heart, how much he wants to be out there for games that maybe don’t mean super much for us right now but that’s who he is and we appreciate him for that.”

Boston has one more road game against the Magic on Wednesday before a pair of home contests against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday and Saturday at TD Garden. The Celtics will get some downtime as the Play-In Tournament plays out. The Celtics will face whoever wins the 7/8 game in the tournament.

Brown is playing on a minutes restriction as he manages his injury. He said he is optimistic his doctors will come up with a treatment to help him feel better during the playoffs.

“We’ll see. I’m still learning and I’m still hoping that we’ve got some stuff that will make myself feel a lot better going into the playoffs. I’m still learning,” Brown said last week. “Every day, I’m just taking it one day at a time. I haven’t felt my best over the last couple of days, the last couple of weeks, but you’ve kind of got to just roll with the punches I guess.”

“It is what it is. It sucks. I wish I could share more details, but whatever my team needs, whatever I can do, whatever I’ve got, I’ll give. So, I’m looking forward to taking it one day at a time and hoping that some things will improve over these next two weeks or so.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.