Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown headline absurdly long injury report vs. Blazers

Although this banged-up roster might raise some red flags for Celtics fans, a lot of the injury designations are by design. On Saturday night versus the Phoenix Suns, Tatum, Brown, Holiday, and White all played 32 minutes or more. No Celtic appeared to be hurt in that primetime showdown, so it seems like Boston is simply taking it easy with its starters right now.

As for Porzingis, the same right hamstring tightness that will prevent him from facing Portland kept him out against Phoenix. The Latvian big man has participated in 46 of Boston’s 63 games this season, but the Celtics have been eager to rest him whenever possible.

Including the Portland contest, the C’s still have 19 games left in the 2023-24 regular season. Yet, at 49-14 overall, they’re in first place in the Eastern Conference and hold an eight-game lead over the second-place Milwaukee Bucks. With that cushion, priority No. 1 at the moment is heading into the playoffs healthy.

Meanwhile, Portland doesn’t have a shot at the postseason. The Blazers are 18-45 after trading star Damian Lillard in the offseason and sustaining multiple major injuries early in the season. In spite of their poor record, they still have some promising talent with young guys like Anfernee Simons and rookie Scoot Henderson.

Former Celtic Dalano Banton has even excelled with the Blazers following his move at the 2024 trade deadline. Since being shipped from the C’s, he’s averaging 14.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in just 23.2 minutes per outing.

Given the Celtics’ resting strategy, they seem to think they can take on Portland without all of their key guys. However, Tatum and Brown have only missed a combined eight games this season, so, when it comes to the question of if either member of the dazzling duo is playing on Monday night versus the Blazers, the answer is that at least one of them probably will.