Illness could ravage Celtics bench for Saturday vs. Hawks
The Boston Celtics may be extremely shorthanded for Saturday’s matinee against the Atlanta Hawks thanks to a flu bug that’s straight-up ravaged their depth, according to the team’s official injury report released Friday.
#NEBHInjuryReport for tomorrow vs. Atlanta:
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 15, 2019
Terry Rozier (illness) - QUESTIONABLE
Daniel Theis (illness) - QUESTIONABLE
Guerschon Yabusele (illness) - QUESTIONABLE
Perhaps it’s nothing to worry about, as the Hawks come to Boston with wins in just 11 of 35 road games this season, and given the fact that the Celtics managed to win on Thursday without all three of these players. But it will certainly put an added strain on Boston’s top players, as this ‘gimme’ just become a little trickier from a workload standpoint.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens experienced this slightly on Thursday, too, as sixth Celtics played at least 29 minutes, while both Gordon Hayward and Aron Baynes both logged at least 19 minutes each.
But in the middle game of a three-in-five stretch for the Green on Saturday, and with the Denver Nuggets on deck for Monday night, finding some rest for some of the C’s top talents should be of considerable importance to Stevens.
The Celtics have won four of their last five games, and sit a game and a half back of the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
