Tatum Might Sit for the First Time All Year. The Bucks Are 1-6 Without Giannis. Here's What Wednesday Is Really About
Boston is 5-2 and perfect at home. Tatum (rest) and Pritchard (shoulder) are questionable, Paul George and Mitchell Robinson are cleared, and the rotation is still being sorted out.
Wednesday night at TD Garden looks like the easiest game on the Celtics' November calendar on paper. Boston is 5-2 and has won four straight at home. Milwaukee is 1-6, CelticsBlog reported, in what it called the Bucks' first season after Giannis Antetokounmpo. Tip is 7:30 p.m.
But the injury report is the story, and it says a lot about where this team is a week and a half into the season.
Tatum and Pritchard are questionable
Jayson Tatum is listed as questionable with rest, according to CelticsBlog. He hasn't missed a game this season. Payton Pritchard is questionable with a right shoulder contusion. He hasn't missed one either.
Both played both nights of the Sunday-Monday back-to-back against Orlando and Houston. Paul George and Mitchell Robinson, who each sat one night of that trip, are both available Wednesday.
Here's my read: the Celtics resting Tatum on the night after a back-to-back, against a 1-6 team, is exactly what a smart staff does with a guy coming off an Achilles rupture. CelticsBlog says Tatum is fully recovered and his numbers back that up: 27 points, 7.9 assists and 6 rebounds a night. The shooting is another story, 41.8 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from three. That three-point number is the one I'd watch.
Tatum averaged 30.3 points and seven assists during Boston's perfect 4-0 week, which moved him one Player of the Week award short of Larry Bird's total, according to CelticsBlog.
Pritchard's slow start
Pritchard has come off the bench every game. Outside of two big nights against the Bulls, he's struggled offensively, CelticsBlog reported: 13.4 points and 3.4 assists on 40.3 percent shooting and 31 percent from three. If the shoulder keeps him out, that opens minutes for Mike Conley or Ron Harper Jr., both of whom have been on the edge of the rotation.
The lineup is still moving
The Celtics opened the first five games with Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum and Mitchell Robinson, per CelticsBlog. Hugo Gonzalez has started in place of Walsh the past two games. Neemias Queta started at center in Monday's loss in Houston. Baylor Scheierman got his first start of the year when George sat Sunday.
If Tatum rests, CelticsBlog lists Scheierman as the likely starter again, with Walsh and Sam Hauser also in the mix.
Robinson checked out of the Houston game with a sprained thumb and came back in the second quarter.
The record so far
Boston's five wins came against the Knicks, the Bulls twice, and the Nets, CelticsBlog reported. The two losses: Detroit and Houston. Four straight home wins, zero home losses.
Look, nobody's handing out banners for beating Chicago twice. But the Knicks win counts, and a 4-0 home start is a 4-0 home start.
The other side
The Bucks have been led by Tyler Herro, at 21.9 points and 4 assists a game, and Jaime Jaquez Jr., at 16.6 points and 7.3 rebounds, CelticsBlog reported. That's not the Bucks roster anybody in Boston grew up hating.
George sat the second night of the back-to-back in Houston, his first missed game of the season, and Robinson sat the front end in Orlando, also his first, CelticsBlog reported. Both were planned rest nights. That's the pattern: the staff is managing minutes early, and Wednesday may be Tatum's turn.
If Boston's offense can't get going at home against a 1-6 team, with or without Tatum, that's a real red flag.
The betting market at FanDuel Research had Boston as a double-digit favorite, and numberFire's model gave the Celtics an 86.5 percent chance to win. I'm not telling you to bet anything. I'm telling you the expectation here is a comfortable win, which means anything less becomes a talking point.
What I'm watching
Three things. One: whether Tatum actually sits, and who starts if he does. Two: whether Queta or Robinson gets the center minutes after Robinson's thumb scare. Three: whether Pritchard's shoulder is a one-game thing or something that lingers.
What we don't know yet
Final statuses for Tatum and Pritchard usually come closer to tip. The Celtics hadn't announced a decision on either as of the report I read. I'll update the record after the game.
