The Celtics could be shorthanded when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. Neemias Queta remains questionable after spraining his left ankle in Sunday’s win over the Orlando Magic, while Jaylen Brown is questionable with lower back spasms. Derrick White, meanwhile, is probable to play with a right calf contusion.
It’s a good sign that Queta is already listed as questionable after pre-emptively being ruled out for the Celtics game against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
“[He’s] day-to-day,” Joe Mazzulla said on Wednesday. “We’ll just kind of assess him every day. He got a little bit better today than he was when it initially happened. So we’ll just kind of take it from there each day, see how he is.”
The Celtics survived Queta’s absence against the Pistons
In a 117-114 win over the Pistons, the Celtics turned to rookie two-way center Amari Williams for 15 minutes in Queta’s place. Williams tallied two blocks and three rebounds in his first real stint as an NBA player, and garnered praise from his teammates.
“That was impressive from Amari,” said Jaylen Brown. “I’m not gonna lie, he hasn’t been with us. A lot of pressure, high-profile game — to come in and make an impact? Credit to him.”
Luka Garza earned his first start as a Celtic and ended up playing just 11 minutes. But, for much of the night, the Celtics went small, either with Josh Minott or another perimeter player playing center. The Pistons out-rebounded the Celtics 56-44, but the small-ball Celtics were able to exploit some offensive mismatches.
After the Pistons game, Mazzulla praised the team’s defensive efforts despite the limited frontcourt.
“I thought we battled,” he said. “It almost forced us to have a heightened awareness to the physicality that’s necessary to be able to play. And, I thought we did the best job that we could.”
Mazzulla also mentioned the small-ball lineups that were present for 22 minutes in Wednesday’s win were extra intentional defensively.
“I felt like we protected the rim better than we did when we have bigs out there sometimes,” he said. “Because I think the heightened awareness and kind of more of the — we don’t have another choice. We have to do this.”
If Queta is ruled out, those efforts will have to continue against a Timberwolves frontcourt headlined by Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid. If Brown or White is to miss the game, the Celtics’ task will be even more formidable.
The Celtics (10-8) will face the Timberwolves (10-8) on Saturday at 5pm ET. The Celtics have won five of their last six games, while the Wolves have lost three in a row.
Queta’s teammates know that his absence will continue to be a challenge.
“We don’t really have a guy that replaces what Neemy does for us,” said Derrick White at practice this week. “So it’s got to be just a group effort, obviously — X, Luka, Chris, they’re gonna get a bigger chance, and we’re gonna need a lot from them. But, it’s also on us — we don’t have Neemy back there to kind of take out some of the problems or the mistakes we make on the perimeter. So it’s gonna be a team effort — rebounding, everything. Hopefully, he comes back as quickly as possible, but we all gotta step up.”
