Jaylen Brown was already ruled out for a week by Celtics team doctors back on Wednesday after suffering a Grade 1 hamstring strain against the Nets but the C's wing rotation will be thin again on Friday night with Gordon Hayward missed his second straight game due to a knee contusion. Brad Stevens said in an interview with Zolak and Bertrand on Thursday that Hayward had done a little on-court work after his injury but the team is understandably going to take it slow with him after he logged a heavy minutes load for the past month. His 36 minutes per game average for February was the highest of his career and perhaps contributed to some slumping shooting numbers for him over the past five games (just 12.3 ppg).
Hayward's next chance to suit up will come on Sunday night against the Thunder at the Garden. Brown won't be re-evaluated until Wednesday, the day before a showdown against the Bucks in Milwaukee. Kemba Walker was not listed on the injury report so he will be back in the lineup on Friday night with a minutes limit in the 20-25 range, according to Stevens.
Despite missing both Hayward and Brown for Friday's game, the Celtics have elected to assign two other roster players to get some action for the Red Claws as rookies Carsen Edwards and Vincent Poirier head up north for some extended action. Edwards saw some extended action on Tuesday against the Nets but has been out of the rotation otherwise and his defense in that contest showed he still needs plenty of reps to contribute at the NBA level. Meanwhile, Poirier has turned into the fourth-string center again with the return of Robert Williams to the lineup this past week so he will head north to get some extended minutes.
Without both players, the Celtics will only have 11 active players against the Jazz unless they recall Tremont Waters from the G-League. Given the fact that Walker is on a minutes limit, having Waters as bench insurance would be a wise move.
Marcus Smart fined for outburst
The point guard managed to avoid a suspension for his postgame tirade against the officials on Tuesday night but his wallet took a hit in the aftermath with a $35,000 fine from the league for verbally abusing officials. The NBA noted that the size of the fine was bigger due to his multiple prior violations of acceptable on-court decorum. According to Spotrac, Smart is now up to over $300,000 in career fines from the NBA.
Marcus Smart had to be escorted off the court after having a heated conversation with the refs ? pic.twitter.com/63KeiFUPkG
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 4, 2020
