Al Horford out, Jayson Tatum questionable for Friday's game vs. Hornets

The Celtics will be shorthanded once again on Friday night as they go for their 11th consecutive win against the Charlotte Hornets at the TD Garden.

The team listed Al Horford as out for the contest with concussion-like symptoms, while rookie forward Jayson Tatum is questionable with a left ankle injury.

Danny Ainge addressed the status of both players on Thursday during his weekly interview with Toucher and Rich. While Horford is out on Friday, he believes the concussion the big man suffered is less severe than the one that sidelined him for nine games last season. 

"We'll just take it day to day," Ainge said on 98.5 the Sports Hub. "I don't think it's as bad as the last one, so hopefully he'll be back soon."

Ainge later expanded on Horford's condition: "He had minor symptoms, but we were hoping that they would go away. I don't think this is as bad of a concussion he had last year, but listen, with a concussion you just have to be really cautious. The symptoms got a little bit worse over the course of a couple of days. But they're not bad. I thought the day after the incident that he probably was going to be able to play. But it just got a little worse yesterday so we just sat him out."

The NBA has a strict concussion protocol that requires a player to be symptom-free through strenuous activities on the way back to recovery, so it's safe to assume Horford will be on for at least a few more days at the minimum.

Tatum's injury designation of questionable for Friday's game has to be considered a bit of a positive after the 19-year-old left Wednesday's win with right ankle soreness. He was expected to have an MRI today.

"Jayson will go get some imaging done today," Ainge told Toucher and Rich. "There were X-rays taken last night and there were no fractures or any breaks. We're hoping it's a soft tissue injury in the ankle joint, which sometimes can take a while. But we'll have a better feel of that as we get the images back today."