Celtics' Brown: 'Hard for teams to be great' if stars skip back-to-backs

Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown believes the biggest names can't afford to take a night off when scheduled to play on consecutive days.

"Back-to-backs, it's not like (only) the Celtics got to play them. Everybody in the whole league is no different. ... As a team, some of those moments are some of the adversity," the 28-year-old said after Boston's 108-89 win over the Miami Heat on Monday, according to Bobby Krivitsky of Sports Illustrated. "Back-to-backs are tough. You get your body, your mind, everything ready. ... But as you're looking to do something special, those are the moments you got to accept.

"It's hard for teams to be great if some of their best players never play back-to-backs."

Brown scored a team-high 29 points Monday after initially being listed as questionable with an illness. He missed Sunday's 115-111 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the same ailment but said he made a concerted effort to not miss both matchups.

"Even when you're not feeling well, to show that you're still available, I think kind of just sets the tone for your team to have the same type of mindset," he said.

The NBA's 2024-25 schedule includes an average of 14.9 back-to-backs, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. That's a small increase for a third straight season (14 in 2023-24 and 13.3 in 2022-23).

Boston has 13 back-to-backs, tied with the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, and Portland Trail Blazers for the fewest in 2024-25.

Stars being rested in one of the two contests is a growing trend in recent years, though the practice has attracted plenty of scrutiny.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid arguably drew the most notable criticism in October when he said he believed he'd never play in back-to-back games for the rest of his career, citing lingering knee concerns. The former MVP later appeared to walk that back, saying those decisions were up to the team.