BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored a career-high 32 points, and reserve Greg Monroe added 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists Friday night as the Boston Celtics defeated the Chicago Bulls, 111-104.

With Al Horford and Jayson Tatum given the night off, Boston went deep into its bench against one of the worst teams in the NBA.

It was Boston’s first game since Kyrie Irving was ruled out for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs because of an upcoming surgery on his left knee.

Stevens said Irving was obviously “bummed” after his decision to have his latest procedure, which is scheduled for Saturday. It will be his second surgery on the knee in a month, and will remove screws at the site of an infection.

Terry Rozier said Irving was in good spirits when they spoke.

“It wasn’t affecting him at all. And if it was we wouldn’t know because he’s that type of type of guy he is,” Rozier said. “He’s still joking, making everybody laugh when you come in the room, so you can’t really tell.”

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The surgery isn’t expected to have an effect on Irving’s long-term prognosis, Stevens said.

“It’s good, even (after the first procedure). The structure of the knee is good. Everything around the knee is good,” Stevens said. “Everybody’s told us from the get-go that it was going to be a full recovery. We just didn’t anticipate having to take the screws out.”

Stevens said the plan is to give other players rest as well before the playoffs.

“I’d like to get one, possibly two games with our group as is before we head in,” Stevens said. “We’ll manage that as we move forward. Knock on wood.”


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