Star players sidelined as Celtics face Jazz: Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis out with injuries

The Boston Celtics will battle the Utah Jazz in a road affair on Tuesday night. Boston will be without a number of key players, however, including Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, the team announced.

Brown is out with a sacroiliac strain, while Porzingis won’t play due to a right hamstring strain. Meanwhile, Al Horford (left big toe sprain) is out and Svi Mykhailiuk (personal reasons) is questionable as of this story’s writing.

Boston has won back-to-back games heading into Tuesday’s contest. They have been the best team in the NBA during the 2023-24 season. In fact, the Celtics currently hold an astounding 8.5-game lead over the second-place Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference.

Health will be of the utmost importantance moving forward, though. That will be especially true for Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis.

Jaylen Brown update

Brown has been terrific in recent action. His status was also in question for the Celtics-Portland Trail Blazers game, but he ended up being made available. Brown led Boston to a convincing 121-99 victory over Portland, ultimately scoring 27 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

Brown is averaging 28.9 points per game on 52.8 percent field goal and 36.4 percent three-point shooting across his past eight outings, per JaylenMuse on X (formerly Twitter). He will certainly be missed on Tuesday night.

The hope is that Brown will not miss too much time. The Celtics may just be resting him in the second of a back-to-back as he battles an injury.

Kristaps Porzingis update

Porzingis has dealt with some injury trouble in 2023-24. He’s been impressive while on the court, but Boston is hopeful he can rest and get ready for the playoffs. Hamstring injuries are always difficult to predict a strict timeline for, however.

Porzingis is set to miss his third consecutive game Tuesday. In the end, the Celtics may still be able to take care of business against the Jazz, but the primary concern is Porzingis’ long-term health.

Boston needs both Brown and Porzingis alongside Tatum in the playoffs. Brown hasn’t dealt with too much injury trouble in recent seasons, but Porzingis has only appeared in more than 55 games once since 2021-22. As a result, the Celtics will proceed with extreme caution when it comes to Porzingis’ health.

The good news is that he surpassed that 55-game mark in 2022-23, playing in 65 contests with the Washington Wizards. And so far in 2023-24, he’s played in 46 games.

Celtics looking ahead

The Celtics are the NBA’s best team. They are going to win the Eastern Conference barring a historic collapse. The one thing Boston can’t do is become stagnant before the playoffs.

The Celtics need to find a way to keep their edge and motivation. And most importantly, they must get fully healthy in order to make a run in the Eastern Conference.