Celtics excludes two starters for Road Matchup vs. Shorthanded Heat

On By Littum

Jaylen Brown joined the colleague starts JRUE Holiday on the inactive list for Monday’s Road Matchup against Miami Heat.

Celtics ruled Brown off the game after adding him to their injury report earlier in the day. He was originally erected as questionable with right knee -soreness.

Holiday (shoulder) was excluded to the third-consecutive game, leaving Boston without two-fifths of his starting lineup against a new look Miami team. New signing Torrey Craig (Ankle) was not yet ready to make his debut in Celtics and sat in the second equal game since his arrival late last week.

Celtics also listed Jayson Tatum (right patellar tendinopathy) as questionable, but he was upgraded to available before Tipoff. Tatum scored 40 points on Saturday night in a 131-104 route by New York Knicks and has missed only three games this season, tied with Derrick White to the fewest among Celtics starters.

Boston hasn’t played a game without Tatum and Brown since last year’s final of the season as head coach Joe Mazzulla sat her starters with playoff poding already secured.

Monday’s DNP was Brown’s eighth of the season and the 10th for vacation. Both have treated irritating damage, with brown past lack of time with hip and shoulder problems. Craig, waived by Chicago last week, has not played since December 30.

For Miami sits a stomach defect over all-star Tyler herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr., both of whom were excluded due to illness. Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and Davion Mitchell – the three players, the warmth acquired in the Deadline trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Golden State – were cleared for debut against Boston.

After returning from South Florida, Celtics will host San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday in their last match before the NBA All-Star break.

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