This season, the Boston Celtics are a perfect 17-0 at home, but on Wednesday night, that remarkable record might be in risk. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who hold the top seed in the Western Conference, will play the C’s at TD Garden. When these two contenders last faced off, the Timberwolves won 114-109 in overtime in the beginning of November.
Boston may be without a few important players, but it will still need to play at its best against Minnesota.
The Celtics classified Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis as questionable on their injury report. The C’s may decide to rest on the first leg of the back-to-back because they have another difficult game on Thursday night—they have to travel to Wisconsin to play the Milwaukee Bucks.
Al Horford will sit on Wednesday or during Boston’s game against the Eastern Conference’s second-seeded team, as he never plays in both games of a back-to-back.
With Kristaps Porzingis’ extensive injury history, the Celtics are taking extra precautions with him. The big man from Latvia reportedly had a contusion on his right knee and was advised to rest in order to prevent further complications.
Jrue Holiday is dealing with a right elbow strain; he has only missed three games this season. The Celtics will need his defense because the Timberwolves are led by explosive guard Anthony Edwards and the Bucks have a sharpshooter in Damian Lillard. His status is difficult to predict. Holiday may wind up having to cover those two explosive scorers as the starting defense.
But the Celtics aren’t the only team in need of a break. The Timberwolves, who defeated the Orlando Magic 113-92 on Tuesday in Florida, are currently on a back-to-back as well. They must now make the trip to Beantown. The Celtics aim to defeat two of the top NBA teams at the moment, regardless of who sits for either side.
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