Celtics Journal: Morris has learned not to ignore nagging injuries

BOSTON — When Marcus Morris felt pain in his left knee at the beginning of last season he thought he could tough it out.

On a new team, with high expectations, coming off a trying offseason that included a trade and a trial for aggravated assault where he was found not guilty, Morris wanted to establish himself in Boston as quickly and firmly as possible even as his left knee barked at him throughout the end of training camp and the first two months of the year.

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BOSTON — When Marcus Morris felt pain in his left knee at the beginning of last season he thought he could tough it out.

On a new team, with high expectations, coming off a trying offseason that included a trade and a trial for aggravated assault where he was found not guilty, Morris wanted to establish himself in Boston as quickly and firmly as possible even as his left knee barked at him throughout the end of training camp and the first two months of the year.

He wound up being shut down for an extended stretch of December — forced to sit for 11 of 13 games in the month before finally getting right shortly before the new year.

So when his right knee began bothering him after Saturday night’s game at Detroit, and acted up again following Tuesday’s practice, he didn’t fight the decision to hold him out a game this time around.

“I was trying to hurry it last year,” he admitted prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns at TD Garden. “I love playing. They were giving me a time to sit out [last year] and I wasn’t really trying to hear it. So I think I learned my lesson a little more and [I am] trying to be smart about it.

“We plan on taking this thing far — a long way. So I will just sit out.”

Morris said his knee is “just a little sore” and feels like a bout of tendinitis. He said the good news is that it is not the same knee that forced him to the shelf for nearly three weeks last season.

“Hopefully get some rehab [Thursday],” he said. “Hopefully, it feels better by Friday [night vs. Milwaukee].”

Another indicator that this rest is more precautionary than a precursor to a longer absence is that Celtics coach Brad Stevens said before the game he didn’t even know whether it was the same knee that bothered Morris last year.

While the coach said the Celtics would miss the offense of a player he said “has probably been as consistent as anybody on our team” against the Suns, a day off against the team with the worst record in the NBA might not be a bad thing for a veteran facing a seven-week stretch where the Celtics essentially have a game every other day.

“You are thinking about what you just finished and what’s coming,” Stevens said before the game. “This is an intense schedule all the way through the All-Star break starting tonight. I think that, ultimately, we want as many guys feeling good as possible. Everybody’s got nicks and bruises. But if they’re not feeling really, really good, then we’ll hold them out.”

While Morris said he wasn’t necessarily searching for the break, he wasn’t about to fight it either.

“I feel like I am very durable,” he said. “I wasn’t really looking at it as a night off. But it’s not something I can really control. I would rather be 100 percent than 75 percent. Give my team a better chance to win.

“I would rather sit it out and see how it feels on Friday.”

Brown starts

Jaylen Brown was listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game on Tuesday with a bruised right hand, but was not only upgraded to “available” early on Wednesday, he was in the starting lineup in place of Morris.

Stevens said Brown had no minute restriction for the game.

Horford improving

Al Horford (patellofemoral pain syndrome) remained out of action despite going through what the coach described as a positive workout earlier in the day.

“Al did some on-the-court work,” Stevens said. “I guess it went great. He’s out [Wednesday]. We’ll keep reassessing day-to-day and he’ll go through more each day.”

Wednesday was Horford’s sixth straight game out of action after he felt knee pain following the Dec. 6 victory against the New York Knicks.