BOSTON – The Boston Celtics will be without their top two rebounders Friday night, which could pose as a serious challenge when they tip off at 7:30 p.m. against the Orlando Magic.
Boston's top rebounder, Avery Bradley, has been sidelined since Jan. 7 with an injured Achilles. On top of that, coach Brad Stevens announced Friday evening that Al Horford, the team's second-leading rebounder, will also be sidelined against the Magic after sustaining a groin injury during Wednesday's game against the Houston Rockets.
While there has been no update on the timetable of Bradley's return, it appears that Horford's injury will not keep him sidelined long, according to Stevens.
” feels a lot better the last two days and has been getting treatment,” Stevens said Friday evening ahead of tip-off. “He went through a workout this morning and actually felt pretty good, but he's not quite 100 percent.”
“He'll be probable for tomorrow night (in Milwaukee),” added Stevens. “With the stretch we're in combined with it being a muscular injury, I think we wanted to make sure that he gets well first.”
While that's good news looking ahead, Boston will still face a great challenge tonight against a very large and deep Magic frontcourt.
Boston's bigs have often faced issues against the likes of Nikola Vucevic, Bismack Biyombo and Serge Ibaka. All three of those playesr are averaging at least 7.0 rebounds per game; meanwhile, no active Celtic is averaging more than 5.2 RPG.
“This is a tough night not to have Avery (6.9 RPG) as a defensive rebounder and a guy that's been great on that side of things,” said Stevens. “And then Al (6.6 RPG) played great in Orlando last time and gives you another body, obviously, to rebound and try to defend those guys.”
Despite the fact that Orlando has lost 11 of its last 14 games, Stevens said, “It's going to be a heck of a challenge for us tonight … We're going to have to have guys step up.”
– Taylor C. Snow
Starting Lineups
Celtics: Isaiah Thomas, Jaylen Brown, Jae Crowder, Jonas Jerebko, Amir Johnson
Magic: Elfrid Payton, C.J. Watson, Aaron Gordon, Serge Ibaka, Nikola Vucevic
