Celtics injury report: Entire starting lineup ‘questionable’ or worse

Some of the Celtics will play the Portland Trail Blazers today, but we don’t yet know which Celtics. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday all carry ‘questionable’ tags heading into Portland, and Kristaps Porzingis is ‘out.’

The itemized list of starting lineup deductions is a lot less scary than it could have been. Porzingis is the only one who has been ruled out of tonight’s matchup, and it’s because of right hamstring tightness. Porzingis has sat out a few first nights of back-to-back games so that Al Horford can sit the second night. That could be what’s going on here, as the Celtics play the Utah Jazz tomorrow night. Porzingis has scored 22 to 25 points in five consecutive games – and is shooting almost 50% from three in that span – so he deserves the night off.

The rest of the injuries are mild, which is why Tatum, Brown, White, and Holiday are all questionable. It’s possible that they really are just not sure who will be healthy enough to suit up, but it’s more likely that they haven’t decided who they want to give programmed rest to. Whoever doesn’t play tonight will probably play tomorrow, and vice versa.

Holiday is someone to keep an eye on, because he’s 34 years old and has missed some time in the past, but he’s marked with ‘tendinopathy,’ a synonym for tendonitis, which usually just means tendon pain. We’ll see, but I think this is probably a rest game for him as well.

If load management frustrates you, keep in mind that the Celtics just completed the toughest stretch of the season. They have a rematch with the Phoenix Suns coming up, so getting some rest in these two games is important if the players are tired.

We should expect more of these kinds of injury reports, since the upcoming schedule is quite supple. There are very few games against good teams remaining in the season, there are many favorable matchups in between those games, and Boston has an eight-game cushion in the Eastern Conference. Boston wants to be fully healthy for a postseason push.

Depending on who is ruled out, Al Horford, Sam Hauser, and Payton Pritchard could all draw starting spots. That spot is all but a guarantee for Horford, since Porzingis is officially not playing. Let’s hope Pritchard gets a good crack at real minutes, considering Boston is playing in his home state of Oregon. The crowd always loves him there. The last time all the starters didn’t play was the last game of last year’s regular season, when Pritchard recorded a 30-point triple-double. He’s probably not going to do that if a few starters play, but it would be cool to see him go off in front of his hometown crowd.

On the Blazers’ side, former Celtics Malcolm Brogdon and Robert WIlliams III will both sit as they suffer from longer-term injuries. Shaedon Sharpe and Jabari Walker are also out, and Jerami Grant and Justin Minaya are day-to-day. That should leave plenty of space for another former Celtic to cook. That’s right, folks: It’s Dalano Banton time.