Celtics injury report: 3 players listed for Monday’s game against the Clippers

On By Littum

The Celtics will remain shorthanded in the front court Monday night against the Clippers despite getting a big boost at center. The team announced that three big players are on the injury report for tonight’s contest at TD Garden as they face a hot Clippers team in a back-to-back.

The big news of the night is the expected return of Kristaps Porzingis. The team upgraded him to probable for the first time following a five-month absence following offseason leg surgery. Porzingis had missed the first 17 games of the season but returned to practice last week, playing with Boston’s G-League affiliate.

Jayson Tatum spoke at length last week about the impact he expected Porzingis to make upon his return.

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“What kind of lift do I think he’s going to give us? I mean, you saw that last year,” Tatum said. “We’re just a really good team right now. I mean, when we got KP, we were just that much better on both ends of the floor. our chemistry is there. You know, it’s like having a cheat code. A seven-foot guy, you can get a ball to him on mismatches and watch him go to work.”

The timing of Porzingis’ return couldn’t be much better with the other ailments affecting the frontcourt for Boston. Al Horford (non-COVID illness) is listed as questionable and is expected to miss the second half of the back-to-back after playing big minutes in Sunday’s win over the Wolves. He has not played in a back-to-back in the last two seasons.

Luke Kornet is also listed as questionable for Monday night due to hamstring tightness. He was a late scratch before Sunday’s win over Wolves with the same injury. Without Horford and Kornet available, the Celtics will still need Xavier Tillman or Neemias Queta for big minutes off the bench, even with Porzingis’ return to the lineup. Tillman was the primary backup center on Sunday, with Neemias Queta receiving his first DNP CD in weeks.

The Celtics host the Clippers at the TD Garden at 7:30pm on Monday night.