A 2-0 start to their Western Conference road trip should have the Boston Celtics in a groove right now. They just took down the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night and will now take on the Sacramento Kings on Night 2 of a back-to-back. Boston is almost certainly locked into the two seed in the East (but there’s an outside chance they could catch the Cleveland Cavaliers).
Meanwhile, the Kings are fighting to remain in the Play-In Tournament ahead of the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks. They made a big-swing move at the deadline, swapping out a disgruntled De’Aaron Fox for Zach LaVine. However, they are currently 3-7 in their last 10 games.
Here is the Celtics injury report for their game against the Kings on Monday, March 24.
Celtics injury report vs. Kings on Monday, March 24
- Jaylen Brown AVAILABLE (right knee posterior impingement)
- Sam Hauser OUT (low back stiffness)
- Al Horford OUT (left big toe sprain)
- Xavier Tillman OUT (left knee joint sprain)
Kings injury report vs. Celtics on Monday, March 24
- Domantas Sabonis QUESTIONABLE (ankle)
- Malik Monk QUESTIONABLE (illness)
- Devin Carter QUESTIONABLE (illness)
- Doug McDermott QUESTIONABLE (elbow)
After missing two games with a bone bruise with a posterior impingement in his right knee, Jaylen Brown was questionable to return heading into Monday night’s game against the Kings. He’s been fighting off some lingering knee issues for a large portion of the season. He has since been upgraded to available.
Sam Hauser is a new addition to the injury report, and he's out due to low back stiffness. He played nearly 40 minutes on Sunday night and has dealt with back problems all year. Hauser was initially questionable to play but was then downgraded to out.
Al Horford is out on Monday night due to the same left big toe sprain that he’s been listed with all year (usually when the Celtics want to give him some rest). Horford has been sitting out one game of back-to-backs since re-joining the Celtics four years ago.
On top of that, Xavier Tillman will miss his third straight game on Monday with left knee joint sprain.
Meanwhile, Sacramento has four players listed on their injury report, all of whom are questionable.
Devin Carter and Malik Monk are dealing with illnesses, Domantas Sabonis has an ankle issue, and Doug McDermott has an elbow injury.
Projected starting lineups for Celtics vs. Kings
This is likely what the Celtics will roll with:
- Derrick White
- Jrue Holiday
- Baylor Scheierman
- Jayson Tatum
- Kristaps Porzingis
Here is what the first five for the Kings could look like:
- Keon Ellis
- Zach LaVine
- DeMar DeRozan
- Keegan Murray
- Jonas Valanciunas
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