Celtics injury report: Starters downgraded for Wednesday’s game against Nets

The Celtics will be shorthanded on the front court Wednesday night when they face the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center. Boston will be without usual starting center Al Horford, who is expected to sit out the second half of the back-to-back with a sore toe. Jaden Springer was also ruled out for the third straight game with a knee injury. Kristaps Porzingis remains sidelined until at least December amid his recovery from offseason leg surgery.

The good news for the Celtics is that Jayson Tatum was removed from the injury report entirely after being questionable Tuesday night with a sore ankle. He appeared to be tweaking the injury in the closing minutes of Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks in NBA Cup action, but said after the game that he was fine. Jaylen Brown also looks healed after missing four games last week with a hip injury. He scored 37 points Tuesday night in his second game back from the injury and is playing without restrictions.

Without Horford, Neemias Queta looks like a good candidate to start at center, while Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman could get more minutes off the bench.

• BET: Check out ours MA sports betting guidewhere you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning to play in Massachusetts.

On the other hand, the Nets could be without a couple of key forwards as Dorian Finney-Smith is questionable with an ankle injury after missing Monday’s win over the Pelicans. Ben Simmons was also a late addition to the injury report on Wednesday as he is questionable with a sore calf. Day’Ron Sharpe, Trenton Watford and Bojan Bogdanovic also remain out for the Nets.

Brooklyn gave Boston a surprisingly tough game last Friday night at the TD Garden, pushing the defending champions into overtime before falling short in the extra frame. They remain underdogs Wednesday night at Barclays Center, but will have fresher legs than a Celtics team coming off a hard-fought loss to the Hawks on Tuesday night.

The Celtics were dominated on the glass and made a number of mental mistakes on Tuesday (season-high 20 turnovers), so Brown is looking forward to a chance to bounce back quickly.

“We’ve got to be able to move forward,” Brown said. ” “We can’t let it become a habit. We have to be able to react well. So I’m looking forward to filming. We have a back-to-back coming up, we’ll put that behind us, but we’re going to learn from these situations and we’ll get better.