Celtics starting center Neemias Queta will sit out for the first time this season on Wednesday when they face the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons, Brian Robb of Masslive.com reports. He suffered a sprained left ankle in Sunday’s win over the Magic.
Queta did not practice on Tuesday. He is averaging a career-high 9.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. The Celtics are a far superior defensive team with Queta on the floor this year, Robb notes, allowing 25.7 points per 100 possessions fewer in his 402 minutes on the court.
Boston will have to rely on Xavier Tillman, Chris Boucher and Luka Garza at the center spot in his absence. Queta’s three-year, $7.2MM contract is only partially guaranteed for next season.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Brandon Ingram kept shooting and the Raptors kept on winning. Ingram took 30 field goal attempts while scoring 37 points in an 11-point win over Cleveland on Monday. Toronto stretched its winning streak to eight games. “He’s a player, especially when he gets going, we as a team recognize that. We need that,” coach Darko Rajaković said, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “It’s good for us. At the same time, we’ve got to stay inside our principles and make good decisions, play with ball movement, finding him through that style of play as well.”
- Paul George sat out Tuesday’s game against the Magic after he experienced ankle soreness, coach Nick Nurse told the media, per The Athletic’s Tony Jones (Twitter link). He had been listed as probable. Nurse isn’t sure if George will miss more than one game. George has played three games this month.
- On a related topic, Jones examines whether the Sixers have enough depth to overcome injuries. He concludes they don’t have enough quality bodies to compete, compared to the East’s top teams this season, who have dealt with their own injury issues. “Yeah, we have to do the best that we can,” Nurse said. “We have to plug in who we can plug in, and we have to do what we need to do. We have to start who’s next in line and figure out the matchups. We have to make decisions. Some of them work and some don’t. The ones that don’t work, we have to change them. We have our discussions, and we have to try and do what’s best for the group.”