Celtics To Be Shorthanded For Late-Season Showdown Vs. 76ers

It could be a potential playoff preview Tuesday night when the Boston Celtics take on the Philadelphia 76ers in a late-season showdown.

But the Celtics will enter the matchup without a key part in their regular rotation and could also be missing one of their star players.

Boston announced Monday evening that Robert Williams won’t play in the contest due to left knee injury management while Jaylen Brown is questionable with low back pain.

It’s not a surprise that Williams, who didn’t play in Friday’s win over the Utah Jazz and is set to miss his 46th game of the season, won’t suit up against the 76ers since it’s the first leg of a back-to-back for the Celtics.

Boston has held the oft-injured Williams, like veteran Al Horford, out of one game occurring on back-to-backs all season. So, it seems like Williams will sit out versus the 76ers and Horford will get his rest Wednesday when the Celtics host the Toronto Raptors.

The ailment for Brown, who is averaging a career-high 26.7 points on 49.3% shooting from the floor while also grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game, isn’t new, either. He played through the back pain against the Jazz despite being questionable going into the game, but the two-time All-Star had one of his worst performances of the season. Brown scored just 12 points on 5-for-19 (26.3%) shooting.

The Celtics surely don’t need Brown to push through things again with their playoff seed pretty much determined at the moment. Boston has a three-game cushion over the 76ers with four games remaining for the second spot in the Eastern Conference while the Celtics are two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 1 seed.

Even without Williams and the possibility of Brown being out, the Celtics will look to sweep their four-game regular season series with the 76ers on Tuesday night. Tipoff from Wells Fargo Center is at 8 p.m. ET.