BOSTON -- The Celtics added to the misery of their 129-120 overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets -- a game that saw them blow a 21-point second-half lead and an 18-point fourth-quarter advantage -- by losing starters Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown to injury Tuesday night.
Hayward exited at halftime because of a right knee contusion, and Brown hurt his right hamstring in the closing minutes of regulation and did not return.
Hayward's injury came with a little over two minutes left in the second quarter, when Celtics center Daniel Theis fell back and appeared to hit his shoulder on Hayward's right knee/leg, causing Hayward to grab at his knee briefly. At the time, however, he remained in the game, and finished the first half without incident.
But Hayward, who played 17 minutes and had seven points in the first half, didn't come out for the start of the second half, with backup Javonte Green starting in his place. A short time later, Boston announced Hayward was done for the night.
"Just got rolled up on there and wasn't aware it was going to happen," Hayward said after the game. "I think it will be fine but sore for a little bit."
He added that he didn't expect to make the trip with the team for Wednesday's game in Cleveland.
Brown didn't speak to reporters after the game, walked gingerly out of the locker room and also didn't seem likely to be able to play Wednesday.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens didn't have an update on the status of either player, and the team said nothing postgame about whether Jayson Tatum, who sat out Tuesday's game because of an illness, would make the trip.
Boston will also probably be without Kemba Walker, who missed the five games after the All-Star break because of left knee soreness before returning and playing 23 minutes in Tuesday's loss. Walker, who had 21 points in 23 minutes, started the second half on the bench in an attempt to stretch his minutes through the end of the game, and said he felt good afterward.
"I feel pretty good," Walker said. "Obviously I missed five straight, so I still gotta get my rhythm, my timing back, everything like that, so, I felt good today."
Still, it is unlikely the Celtics would risk playing Walker in back-to-back games after he'd missed so much time because of the sore knee. As a result, they could find themselves without all four of their starting perimeter players in Cleveland on Wednesday night.
But after a dispiriting loss to Brooklyn that saw the Celtics collapse down the stretch and fall apart in overtime, Stevens said he wasn't worried about who was healthy or not -- instead just wanting to find a group of players who would play hard.
"I have no idea who's going to Cleveland," Stevens said. "I think most of the coaches are going. I just want eight guys, nine guys, whoever's going to play hard, let's go.
"Like, that was ridiculous. Now, Brooklyn deserves credit. And I hate to say it that way because they really deserve credit. Those guys who were in the game for Brooklyn -- LeVert was special, obviously -- those other guys, too, were really engaged. And they deserve credit for that."