The Celtics’ seven-game homestand is off to an injury-filled start.
Boston ruled out starters Jrue Holiday (mallet finger) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) for Sunday’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets at TD Garden. Holiday and Porzingis also did not play in Friday night’s 123-116 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jaylen Brown was listed as questionable for Sunday with right knee pain but was upgraded to available before tipoff. Brown scored 37 points against Cleveland in one of his most productive outings of the season.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said before the Cavs game that Holiday would return when he can “manage the pain” in his injured finger. The 34-year-old wore a splint on his right pinky finger while he watched Friday’s game from Boston’s bench.
Porzingis now has missed three of Boston’s last four games and four of its last nine due to illness. He played in Wednesday’s loss to Detroit but tallied just 11 points and two rebounds in what he called a “terrible” performance.
Mazzulla opted to shorten his rotation against Cleveland rather than giving larger roles to some of his deep reserves. Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet were the only Boston bench players who saw significant minutes, with Torrey Craig (three minutes) and Drew Peterson (one minute) making first-quarter cameos.
Craig, who signed after last month’s trade deadline, has totaled 35 minutes across four appearances for Boston as he acclimates to the Celtics’ system.
“It was a big opportunity (against Cleveland),” Mazzulla said. “He guarded Ty Jerome at the end of the quarter and was able to get a stop, and we were able to defend him. So to me, the amount of minutes don’t add up to what the opportunity is. Playing 20 minutes is as important as playing 20 seconds if you execute the situation that we need you to do. So he’s exactly where we need him to be. He has an open mind. He’s ready to impact the game in whichever way, and what we did in those games, what we do is put our guys in the best position to help us impact winning. I think he played a minute and 57 seconds, and it was really important. He’s got to just continue to know whenever he’s out there, it’s the most important minutes of the game.”
The Celtics are trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.
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