Notebook: Al Horford (knee) will play in London, Marcus Morris loses minutes restriction

The Celtics made their arrival in London on Monday night and held an open practice on Tuesday afternoon leading into Thursday's showdown with the Sixers at O2 Arena. A few notes from the media availabilities following the session.

Horford good to go

After sitting out Saturday's game against the Brooklyn Nets with a sore left knee, Al Horford was a full participant in Tuesday's practice after taking a few days off. Horford also said he planned to suit up Thursday, according to multiple reports.

The All-Star forward hurt the knee during Friday's win over the Wolves in Boston. 

“Honest, I don’t even remember the play," Horford said Saturday in Brooklyn when asked about the play he hurt the knee on. "But it was early in the second quarter, and we worked around it. I felt good enough to go back in the game and finish the game, and we’ve been treating it (since then).

“It felt good up to the point I got on the court. Some movements seemed fine, but there were some things that did limit me.”

Horford has played in 39 of the Celtics' 43 games this year, missing a pair due to a concussion, one for planned rest and another due to the sore knee. With four more rest days after Thursday's contest, the Celtics can proceed cautiously with it, knowing that Horford will have plenty of time for recovery in the coming week.

Marcus Morris loses his minutes limit.

The veteran forward has played in five games since returning from a left knee injury on Christmas Day that has hampered him all season long. The Celtics training staff has been vigilant in keeping a minutes restriction on Morris in those contests, while also preventing him from playing in back-to-back games, in order to avoid aggravating the injury. However, it appears that the 28-year-old's condition is improving as the forward told A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston that he is no longer dealing with a minutes limit for Thursday's game.

That will mark the first game all season that Morris hasn't dealt with a restriction on his playing time. His season-high for minutes played is 28, back on November 30th in a win over the Sixers. With both Horford and Morris at full strength, the Celtics will have a full compliment of players at maximum strength for the first time all year (outside of Gordon Hayward).

Sixers are rolling

The Celtics may be the hottest team in the NBA this week, but the Sixers are not far behind, winning four straight games heading into Thursday's matchup, including a lopsided 36-point win last week over the Pistons.

The Celtics have won both head-to-head matchups with the Sixers so far this year, but they managed to avoid Joel Embiid for the second one in Boston. He'll play in London, as the Sixers will have a healthy roster outside of Markelle Fultz (shoulder) who is still in a rehab program. Embiid is still dealing with a sore back and bruised hand, but he's played through both injuries during the past week.