Tonight, your 18-45 Portland Trail Blazers will try to preclude the 49-14 Boston Celtics, the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed by a country mile (they lead the 42-23 Milwaukee Bucks by eight games), from notching their 50th win of the year.
This encounter marks the two clubs' first encounter of the 2023-24 season.
As usual, Portland will be going forward without several critical contributors. But Boston, too, will be missing some pieces. It's not going to change them from being the heavy favorites to win tonight (they're currently -12 favorites, per The Action Network).
Per the NBA's latest injury report, the Trail Blazers could be without six rotation players, plus G League players Ibou Badji and Ashton Hagans (both merely questionable), this evening against Boston. Former Celtics vets Malcolm Brogdon (right elbow tendinitis) and Robert Williams III (right knee ligament tear) will both not be healthy enough to face their old comrades. Then again, that's been par for the course with those two since before they were traded. Guard Shaedon Sharpe remains shelved as he recovers from lower abdominal surgery, and second-year power forward Jabari Walker is still sidelined with a right hip strain. Starting power forward Jerami Grant is questionable with a strained right hamstring, while second-year combo forward Justin Minaya is, too, with his vaguely defined general illness.
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