After dropping an ugly loss against bottom-of-the-barrel competition Friday night, the Boston Celtics seek a bounce-back win without the presence of star Jayson Tatum on Sunday.
However, the absence isn't injury-related. Instead, Tatum will miss his second game of the season due to personal reasons, which the Celtics announced on Saturday.
On Friday night, where effort and shooting efficiency were both underwhelming for the Celtics, Tatum still managed to lead all scorers with 31 points. Yet, it wasn't enough to muster out a victory against a 10-win Orlando Magic squad.
While the Celtics should put the subpar Magic team to rest with no issue, that hasn't been the case this season. When both teams first met on Oct. 22, the Celtics escaped with a 126-120 win -- which required one of Tatum's four 40-plus point showings this season.
The Celtics have added to their loss column in three of their last four contests and look to avoid a third consecutive defeat.
The Celtics tipoff against the Magic from TD Garden is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
