The Boston Celtics are back at home, and they won’t be leaving TD Garden for a while. They are staring at a seven-game homestand, and their schedule includes some top-notch teams. First up will be the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are sitting pretty atop the Eastern Conference, and have been almost all year.
Cleveland is still playing some elite basketball, but the Celtics are currently up 2-1 in the season series, meaning this game could be important for the Cavs. Boston doesn’t have a great chance at catching them in the standings this late into the season, but this may be the last regular-season opportunity to watch a preview of the Eastern Conference finals.
Here is the Celtics injury report for their game against the Cavaliers on Friday, February 28.
Celtics injury report vs. Cavaliers on Friday, February 28
- Jaylen Brown AVAILABLE (left thigh contusion)
- Jrue Holiday OUT (right hand mallet finger)
- Luke Kornet AVAILABLE (personal reasons)
- Kristaps Porzingis OUT (non-covid illness)
Cavaliers injury report vs. Celtics on Friday, February 28
- NO INJURIES TO REPORT
The Celtics had a couple of games in a row coming out of the All-Star break where they had nobody from the regular rotation listed on the injury report. Xavier Tillman was dealing with a knee injury, but he’s since returned.
Now, the injury report is starting to fill up again with various nicks and bruises.
Jaylen Brown highlighted the report heading into Friday night’s game against the Cavaliers. He seemed to have bumped his knee in the Celtics’ win over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, and he missed their game against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday because of it.
He was upgraded to questionable to play and is now officially active.
Jrue Holiday is also on the injury report, despite playing on Wednesday in Detroit. He sat out against the Raptors for rest purposes, but now he’s dealing with right hand mallet finger. According to Cleveland Clinic, mallet finger is “an injury to the tip of your finger that causes it to droop downward.”
"He's day-to-day, just managing the pain, and when he can manage the pain, he'll be ready to play," Joe Mazzulla said pre-game on Friday night. Holiday is out.
Lastly, Luke Kornet was still on the injury report for personal reasons and was upgraded to questionable. Kornet has missed the Celtics’ last two games for the same distinction but will return to the lineup against the Cavs.
Kristaps Porzingis was a later addition to the injury report, added on Friday afternoon. He was questionable to play due to a non-covid illness and has since been downgraded to out.
Cleveland is not dealing with any injuries at the moment, so they will be fully healthy. This will be the first time the Cavs have played the Celtics since acquiring De’Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline.
Projected starting lineups for Celtics vs. Cavaliers
This is likely what the Celtics will roll with:
- Derrick White
- Jaylen Brown
- Sam Hauser
- Jayson Tatum
- Al Horford
Here is what the Cavaliers’ first five could look like:
- Darius Garland
- Donovan Mitchell
- Max Strus
- Evan Mobley
- Jarrett Allen