Brad Stevens says Celtics need to cut the load on Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum

In the second half of Friday’s 108-102 loss to the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown was hit in the face by Josh Jackson.

Brown went down hard and lay there for a moment, holding his nose. When he got up, the Celtics needed a timeout to stop the bleeding, and most observers assumed the referees would be watching the monitor for a possible blatant foul.

They did not, however, to Brown’s annoyance.

“I don’t know how many times I hit the floor today, but I feel like I might as well have brought a mop to mop the floor, man,” Brown said. “Detroit was a physical team, but I think it’s just getting ridiculous right now. I do not understand that. I don’t want to comment too much on it because I’m not going to get a fine, but I thought I was being hit in the face. Pretty difficult too. And nothing. “

The call may not have saved the Celtics, who were struggling to make stops and unable to put together a consistent offense. Still, Brown and the Celtics have a grueling period ahead with nine games in 15 days, making Friday’s loss even bigger for Boston. Jayson Tatum played for 41 minutes, while Brown scored 36 minutes. The duo were excellent – a combined 21-for-43 from the field with a total of 60 points. They still lost.

Tatum was asked how he and Brown cope with this season’s physical challenges.

“We have to find a balance,” said Jayson Tatum. ‘You need to rest at night, get a cold bath and treatment. Luckily, we have the youth on our side so it’s a little easier to recover, but make sure you’re eating the right way and taking care of your body. You know, of course, that Brad doesn’t want us to play constantly for 40 minutes right now, but if you’re in the middle of it trying to figure out how to win games, sometimes you have to. “

Still, Brown and Tatum could use a boost. In a win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, the Celtics hit it off as their star duo combined 19 assists and role-players got hot behind the 3-point line. On Friday, the Celtics counted 15 assists in total as a team.

“I said we have been asking a lot of those guys throughout the year,” said Brad Stevens. “There is a great burden, a great burden to bear. Yesterday we had a lot of great contributions, but we got a lot of great open looks. The looks weren’t that open today and when they were there we didn’t find them. So we have to do that as a team to reduce the burden on those guys. “

Brown admitted this was a challenging process.

“I’m learning and growing on the fly, trying to find ways to let the game come to me and make my teammates better,” said Brown. “And also inspire our boys to fight every night. It’s definitely a challenge, even in myself. So we just have to get better. We just have to keep growing and getting better. That’s all I can really say now. “

But how does Brown feel physically?

“I don’t even have a comment on that,” said Brown. “I think we just have to do our very best to help our team win. No excuses.”