Celtics' stay-ready crew should not be taken lightly regardless of injury report

There may be an inclination to see the Celtics’ injury report for their season finale against the Magic on Sunday, and assume that they’re essentially punting on the game, ceding victory to Orlando. But that assumption would be a mistake. If we’ve learned anything about Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics, we should know that they’re playing every game to win, and it doesn’t matter who’s on the court or who’s not.

Boston has already ruled out Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Neemias Queta. Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Nikola Vucevic are listed as doubtful to play, and Hugo Gonzalez is listed as questionable.

If all eight players end up missing the game, that leaves a rotation of Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Luka Garza, Ron Harper Jr., Amari Williams, Max Shulga, and the freshly signed Dalano Banton. Not exactly the 1992 Dream Team.

But write them off at your own peril. The Celtics take the stay-ready mantra and next-man-up attitude to another level, and it all stems from their head coach. Mazzulla will not let his team give anything but 100%, and I expect nothing less on Sunday.

Magic still have a lot to play for

Sure, on paper, it makes no sense to think the Celtics would win this game based on the lineup they’re putting out. They’ve clinched the 2-seed in the East already, so they truly have nothing to play for, but good luck telling that to Joe and his players.

The Magic, on the other hand, actually have a lot at stake. They’re currently penciled into the 7-seed, but with a win and a Raptors loss to the Nets, they could move up to the 6-seed, which would allow them to avoid the play-in tournament altogether. If they lose on Sunday, they risk falling to the 8-seed, which would mean they no longer get to host the 7/8 play-in game and would have to go on the road to Philadelphia.

So, Orlando will put their best foot forward on Sunday and do everything in their power to win. But if they underestimate this skeleton crew for the Celtics, they may find themselves in trouble. There’s a very good chance that this is a preview of an eventual first-round matchup, just as it was last year.

Even though Sunday won’t give us the best idea of what that series will look like, it’s a good opportunity to remind the Magic what the Celtics are all about, and to show them that nothing is going to come easy in Boston.