Jaylen Brown missed Thursday’s sport in opposition to the Pistons because of a low again contusion, however the Celtics star just isn’t anticipated to overlook prolonged time due to the harm.
“He just woke up sore today,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “So I don’t envision it being long term.”
Brown sustained the harm in Monday’s Christmas Day win over the Lakers when he collided with LeBron James. The Lakers star by accident tripped up Brown and kneed him in his decrease again, inflicting each to fall and keep on the ground for a number of moments. Brown went straight to the locker room however returned to complete the sport.
It’s unclear if Brown – who missed simply his second sport of the season – will miss Friday’s second leg of the back-to-back in opposition to the Raptors.
Without Brown, the Celtics began Al Horford alongside Kristaps Porzingis as Mazzulla continues to experiment with double-big lineups. Though the league has shifted to sooner, smaller, shooting-focused lineups, the C’s imagine they’ve a power with their frontcourt due to their versatility and talent to defend a number of positions.
“It’s pretty cool because the way that the league is going, kind of getting away from that, and for me, I work with these guys every day with the bigs a lot of the time,” Horford mentioned. “Usually we’re not anticipated to be collectively and I feel it’s fairly cool. They all clearly deliver one thing totally different. My function modifications barely any time a type of guys are in and a few of the issues that I have to do. But it’s enjoyable. I actually take pleasure in, on protection and offense, however I actually take pleasure in when I’ve a few of these different guys on the market, I do know it’s not a lot on me defensively, form of defending the again line and people guys do a very good job of that.
Queta finds a spot
One of probably the most encouraging developments of the Celtics’ West Coast journey final week was the emergence of backup massive man Neemias Queta, who continued to impress within the alternatives he has earned. He recorded the primary two double-doubles of his profession – within the loss to the Warriors after which the win over the Clippers. And when Luke Kornet was deemed obtainable for Monday’s win over the Lakers after lacking time with an adductor harm, Queta bought some first-half minutes as an alternative of him.
Queta, in his third season within the league and on a two-way contract with the Celtics, continues to be uncooked and isn’t precisely polished offensively, however he’s been a workhouse on the glass and has been one in all Boston’s finest screeners. He’s given them one thing totally different off the bench, and has made a case for an expanded function.
“It’s been great to see,” Horford mentioned. “Just really surprised how quickly he’s grasping everything and the impact he’s able to have on our group, the energy that he’s bringing. It’s just been encouraging to see it. He’s the kind of guy who continues to put in the work. The biggest thing for him is just to continue to stay ready because you just never know when your number’s going to be called and you’re going to play more minutes one game and things like that. It’s been pretty encouraging to see.”
Though Queta earned taking part in time over Kornet on Monday, Mazzulla mentioned it wasn’t something to learn into.
“Luke’s done a lot for us over the last two years. He’s going to play,” Mazzulla mentioned. “It was one game where he was just healthy that day and Neemie had been playing well. So Luke’s going to play. Those two guys have both done good things for them and they’re both good and they offer different stuff. And so Luke is really, really good in our defensive system. Neemie’s getting better in it. And they both bring different strengths on the offensive end. Luke’s ability to pass and off-ball situations. Neemie’s ability to screen, get behind bigs. So it’s just a matter of using both now.”
Encouraging journey
The Celtics had been pleased with how they completed their four-game West Coast highway journey after they gained three consecutive video games following their loss to the Warriors. Mazzulla mentioned there have been a number of aims he wished the crew to satisfy on each ends, and moreover a couple of stretches, he beloved the way in which they performed.
“I thought we played really good basketball on both ends,” Mazzulla mentioned. “And I thought we reinvented our offense a little bit with our off-ball and our pace. For those teams, we have to continue it. And I thought defensively, for the most part, against fast teams, I think we were the best transition defense in the league over those four games. So against fast, high-powered offensive teams, I thought our transition D was good, which is a product of we only averaged nine turnovers a game in those four games. And so we’re just playing well-balanced basketball on both ends of the floor. We got to fight to keep it up.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com