WALTHAM — The Celtics had their first practice since returning from their trip in London on Saturday but there were some notable absences on the court for the session, highlighted by Jayson Tatum.
"Tatum was out today with his knee that he left the game for the other day," Brad Stevens said after practice. "We're going to get more imaging on it. We don't know what's going on, but it was stiff today so we wanted to make sure that we held him out."
The rookie left Thursday's game against the Sixers at the end of the third quarter for what appeared to be his scheduled in-game rest. The 19-year-old returned to the court at the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter and played a few minutes before Stevens pulled the starters with the game in hand late.
"End of the third quarter," Stevens said when asked about the origin of Tatum's injury. "I didn't see it but they said he got his knee hit and it stiffened up, swelled up a little bit the next morning. He's going to have further testing done today. They don't think it's a big, big thing but certainly, we want to be cautious and know exactly what happened."
BSJ Analysis: The Celtics are off on Sunday so we will get more of an update on Tatum's condition Monday, but it's safe to say it's likely not a major issue if the Celtics medical staff allowed him to return to the game after suffering the injury initially in the third quarter. Tatum has played all 44 games of the regular season this year though, the highest mark on the team. Needless to say, the team will be cautious with his condition due to the fact the rest of his body could use some rest anyway with the high volume of minutes played for a rookie over just three months.
Horford also rests
Al Horford (calf) also sat out Saturday's practice to get some extra rest for the injury that caused him to miss last weekend's game in Brooklyn. Horford initially referred to the injury as a knee issue but Stevens said it's the calf that's been the issue.
"He felt really good throughout the game," Stevens explained of how Horford's body responded to playing Thursday. "He said he got a little bit sore at the end of the game but this (rest) is about making sure Al feels great the rest of the way."
Horford played a team-high 35 minutes in Thursday's win over the Sixers. Shane Larkin also sat out practice due to illness, leaving the Celtics with 10 active players.
"Today was not about rocket science. It was about getting our legs going," Stevens said after a long return flight from London yesterday.
Other News and Notes
- Jaylen Brown doubled down on a claim made by J.J. Redick and Kyrie Irving that one of the rims in London were crooked on Thursday. He said he noticed it before the game, told the coaching staff and they brushed him off.
- Celtics will be off again on Sunday and will practice Monday before returning to action on Tuesday night against the Pelicans in Boston.