BOSTON — The Celtics will be without two starters on Sunday night as they take on the Washington Wizards at TD Garden. Jayson Tatum (knee) was downgraded to out while Jaylen Brown (knee) will be active. However, Kristaps Porzingis (illness) was a late add to the injury report about an hour before trip and will join Tatum as being ruled out. Tatum and Brown were originally listed as questionable for Sunday’s game.
Brown has missed four of his last nine games due to a bone bruise in his knee but he has fared well of late playing with the injury, including scoring a team-high 31 points in Friday’s win over the Suns.
“Just learning to make adjustments,” Brown said of playing with a bone bruise. “I probably relied on my athleticism a lot this season. But like, using more of my skill, you know, playing a little bit slower, which can sometimes be a good thing. So it’s all about just figuring that out, and I’ve been using these games to kind of figure it out, and just take it one day at a time.”
While Boston will have all of their regulars available outside of Tatum and Porzingis, the same can’t be said for a tanking Wizards squad. Washington will be without eight roster players for the matchup including Khris Middleton and former Boston guard Malcolm Brogdon. Ex-Celtics fan favorite Marcus Smart is active and is expected to start in his first appearance as a member of the Wizards in Boston since the Grizzlies dealt him away at the trade deadline in a salary dump.
Washington currently sits 1.5 games ahead of the Utah Jazz for the worst record in the league at 17-60 with five games remaining.
The Celtics will officially be locked into the No. 2 seed today for the East playoffs with a loss or a Cavs win.
Boston and Washington tip off at 6:00 p.m. at TD Garden Sunday night.
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