The Boston Celtics will be without Jaylen Brown again against the Houston Rockets
Two of the best teams in the league will be facing off as the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets both look to break out of their worst slumps of the season. The problem is that both teams will not be at full strength. The Rockets certainly got the worst of it, with both Chris Paul and Clint Capela sidelined, but the Celtics will also still be missing Jaylen Brown (Via Celtics Blog).
With the way the two of these teams have been playing, they really need to be at full strength. The Celtics have been on a much longer slump than the Rockets, and they are also playing the second of a back to back, at the very end of a brutally cluttered schedule.
The Celtics might be at the peak of their fatigue tonight, and you cannot overstate how important Brown’s defense would be against the Rockets. It is going to be the James Harden show with his best running mates sidelined, and Brown would normally be one of the primary defenders.
There is also Marcus Smart, but Brown’s height is something they will always want to use on him. On top of that, the Celtics know they will need their three point shooting to keep up with this Rockets team. Brown is inconsistent, but he is one of the most prominent shooters on the team, and they need him to keep up with one of the best three point shooting teams in the league.
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The Celtics have been dealing with injuries all year long, and have shown an ability to overcome it. The problem is that they have not been making up for things during this recent stretch, and they need all the bodies they can put on the court with how much fatigue has built up.
This could be one of the most difficult tasks for the Celtics, and it will take many different players, especially on the second unit, to have the kind of performance that will be good enough to take down even a shorthanded Rockets team.
The Celtics are being patient with Brown for obvious reasons. The schedule is finally going to let up, so it is not going to be worth risking anything with Brown, even in a game as important as this one.
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The Celtics have a great opportunity to get their season back on track against the Rockets, and they can make a statement if they do it without Brown.