The Celtics expected to be down two rotation players in their Monday night matchup with the Rockets.
Minutes before tipoff at TD Garden, they learned they’d actually be missing three.
Despite being upgraded from questionable to available earlier in the evening and dressing for the game, veteran big man Al Horford did not leave the bench in Boston’s 114-112 loss to Houston.
The 38-year-old Horford often sits out for rest purposes, but this was an unexpected absence, according to head coach Joe Mazzulla. Mazzulla said Horford, who was listed on the injury report with a left big toe sprain, intended to play but determined he couldn’t after his pregame warmup. The Celtics initially announced Horford as a starter, then removed him and inserted Luke Kornet.
“We found out at the start of the game, two minutes before the game,” Mazzulla explained. “He did everything he could to get ready in shootaround, did everything he could in his shooting time, and then right before the game, he just didn’t feel comfortable going. But he did everything he could to play.”
With Horford sitting and Derrick White (shin contusion) and Sam Hauser (hip impingement) both inactive, Mazzulla spent much of the game cycling through unorthodox lineup combinations, many of which had seen little to no playing time together this season. Kornet started in a double-big frontcourt with Kristaps Porzingis, with whom he’d played just 54 minutes before Monday.
“During warmups, I think it was Phil, our performance director guy, came up and just kind of let me know,” Kornet said. “I mean, that’s happened before, and Al obviously was just a late scratch for whatever reason. So he came up and told me, and then before starting lineup (introductions) and stuff, Joe just confirmed it and (I was) ready to go.”
Fellow reserves Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman, Jordan Walsh and Jaden Springer all saw action within the opening 13 minutes, as well. Two-way player Drew Peterson later entered the mix after Porzingis picked up his fifth foul midway through the third quarter.
Mazzulla said Kornet “was tremendous” and “played a great game” (18 points on 8-of-9 shooting, seven rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block in 33 minutes). Queta held up well in relief of Porzingis after scuffling in his initial shift alongside the seldom-used Tillman, and the Celtics outscored the Rockets by 11 points in Springer’s seven minutes, during which the defense-focused guard grabbed a steal and hit a game-tying third-quarter 3-pointer.
“We didn’t know (Horford wasn’t playing) until the game was getting ready to start,” Jaylen Brown said. “Give credit to the guys. I thought guys came in and played well. Luke had a good game offensively. Neemi came in. Jaden gave us a little bit of a spurt. So we had guys step up to the plate and the rhythm of things, and we just didn’t convert in the fourth quarter.”
Kornet appeared to be in pain when the Celtics subbed him out with 3:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, and a team trainer worked his back/abdomen as play resumed. Mazzulla reinserted the 7-footer with 11.1 seconds to play, and Kornet was involved in the Rockets’ final two made field goals, first losing Alperen Sengun on an inbounds play and then switching with Brown ahead of Amen Thompson’s last-second game-winner.
Mazzulla placed the blame for those two baskets on himself, saying he “tried to change the matchups” and put his players in unfavorable positions.
“It was just kind of the timing of all of it,” Kornet said. “We obviously were trying to switch. I think we might’ve just gotten like — it’s a weird thing of like, I don’t know, just kind of the ball being handed in and stuff, and then kind of second-guessing it at the same time because we’re trying to get in position. Yeah, I mean, it just didn’t play out in a great way. It’s kind of hard to say exactly, just with the timing of trying to make it happen. I think it was a good move to try to get that going, but just sort of played out in an unfortunate way.”