Boston is resting players before the postseason begins
If you’ve purchased tickets to any of the Boston Celtics’ final regular season games, we hope you have lots of fun.
Just don’t plan on seeing the stars.
The C’s are taking a pretty calculated approach to the way they’re deploying lineups down the stretch, seemingly cycling through rest days for some of their superstars. Let’s take a look at their Saturday injury report for context, shall we?
Jaylen Brown (ankle injury management), Jrue Holiday (shoulder sprain) and Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring injury management) are all listed as out for the Celtics’ matchup with the Chicago Bulls. Al Horford (big toe sprain) and Jayson Tatum (ankle impingement) are both questionable.
Is it time to worry? Nope, those are all what we’d typically categorize as bumps and bruises, but given the standings, Boston isn’t taking any chances.
The Celtics have kept Holiday — who actually is dealing with an injury, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe — out of four consecutive games with “dead arm.” There’s no need to push it, though. Just like there hasn’t been a need to play Horford or Porzingis on back-to-backs, or have Brown and Tatum both on the court when they’re playing the league’s saddest teams.
Boston has a championship to win, and based on what we’ve seen against almost every other team in the NBA, injuries might be their only kryptonite. The Celtics are doing their best to avoid that, while also continuing to keep the chemistry by not fully relying on the “stay-ready crew.”
It’s good business, even though your kid might not be able to see Tatum like they’d hoped.