One question entering this Celtics season was whether the team would look to manage the workloads of its older and/or recently injured players.
Would, for example, Boston sit players like Jayson Tatum, Paul George and Mitchell Robinson on the second night of back-to-backs?
So far, the answer has been “no.”
The Celtics did not list Tatum, George or Robinson on their injury report ahead of Tuesday’s home matchup with the Brooklyn Nets after all three started Monday night against the Chicago Bulls.
The only players listed were starting guard Derrick White (probable; right hip synovitis) and two-way guard Devin Carter (out; illness).
Carter has not played since Boston’s preseason opener while he recovers from mononucleosis, but no Celtics rotation player has missed a game since the regular season began. White was upgraded to available before tipoff Tuesday.
The lopsided nature of Monday’s game — the Celtics led by 30 points after three quarters and coasted to a 134-99 win at TD Garden — allowed head coach Joe Mazzulla to shut his starters down early.
Tatum, who is in his first full season since his Achilles surgery, paced that group with 28 minutes played. George and Robinson — key offseason pickups who dealt with frequent injuries during their respective stints with Philadelphia and New York — played 25 and 16 minutes, respectively. White and Jordan Walsh logged 18 apiece.
“I think the biggest thing was we were able to get out of (Monday) night healthy, and minutes were down and we took care of business,” Mazzulla said Tuesday in his pregame news conference. “So we felt good going into tonight’s game, and we’ll just be ready to assess that as the game’s going on.”
Boston will need to navigate a slew of back-to-backs during a jam-packed November — five in total, including four in which they play in different cities on consecutive nights:
Nov. 1 at Orlando and Nov. 2 at Houston
Nov. 10 at Philadelphia and Nov. 11 at Toronto
Nov. 15 vs. Dallas and Nov. 16 vs. Orlando
Nov. 21 at Sacramento and Nov. 22 at Golden State
Nov. 29 at San Antonio and Nov. 39 at Dallas
Mazzulla said Monday that he and his staff weigh several factors when deciding when to give specific players nights off.
“It just depends,” he said. “I think at the end of the day, it’s twofold. We trust the sports science team that we have. We trust the competition of those guys. At the same time, I think our locker room has been built on one through 15, 16 or 17 being able to impact winning. So it’s just a combination of all those things.
“At the end of the day, we have to do what gives us the best chance to win, and at the same time, keep those guys healthy and validate the whole locker room by putting guys in situations where they’ve got to win games for us.”