Celtics' guard Walker and forward Brown out against Suns

BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Celtics will be without guard Kemba Walker and forward Jaylen Brown for Saturday night's home game against the Phoenix Suns.

Coming off a 40-point effort in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, Boston coach Brad Stevens said Walker contacted the team Friday night and said he had a sore left knee. Brown will miss his second straight with a sprained right thumb.

'œKemba got a hold of our doctors last night and said he had some knee soreness,'ť Stevens said. 'œWent in and got an MRI today, it didn't show anything structurally wrong, clearly very sore.'ť

Stevens' original thought is that it won't be a lengthy absence.

'œI always get concerned when someone's not feeling well,'ť he said. 'œI don't get the impression it's a long-term thing.'ť

Earlier this month, Walker missed three games due to illness. He's the team's leading scorer at 22.1 points per game.

'œWe're going to have to just have other guys step up and do so by committee,'ť Stevens said. 'œNobody is going to score 40 by themselves that's going to replace him.'ť

Brown is averaging 20 points per game, third most on the team.

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