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Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON – The NBA announced Tuesday afternoon that the game between the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic at TD Garden was postponed Wednesday night because the Celtics cannot play the minimum of eight players because players enter the league’s health and safety protocols.
Sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the status of Friday’s match between the same two teams here is still unclear.
The announcement is the third consecutive game the Celtics have postponed, after Sunday’s game between the Celtics and Miami Heat and Tuesday night in Chicago against the Bulls. Sunday’s game was postponed because Heat could not play eight players, while the last two were because Boston fell below the threshold.
Five NBA games have been postponed so far this season – the three from the Celtics, the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks that would play on Monday night, and the game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder on December 23.
Last Friday, Boston announced that three players – Robert Williams, Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson – would all be sitting out of tonight’s game against the Washington Wizards for entering the NBA Health and Safety Protocol. On Saturday afternoon, the team added four more names to the injury report for the same reason: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Semi Oeieye and Javonte Green. By Sunday afternoon, all four of them were also listed as written out as a result of the protocols.
The team has not submitted an updated injury report since Sunday night, but the number has since risen beyond the seven players. A source said that Boston only needs to release an injury report again at 5pm the day before its next scheduled game, which means no official update needs to be given before 5pm on Thursday, assuming Friday ‘s game against Orlando remains on the schedule.
The NBA did not impose a fixed criterion for contact detection, given the uncertain and evolving nature of the pandemic. Based on the amount of time other players – including Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant – missed due to contact detection, which is apparently about a week, the Celtics could get any of their players back on Thursday or Friday.
Boston is by no means the only team dealing with this. Four other teams – the Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls – have at least four players listed in the league’s health and safety records. The Heat and Sixers play Tuesday night in Philadelphia with Miami, which will have eight or nine players, depending on the status of Meyers Leonard (shoulder), while Philadelphia will have ten after Ben Simmons was considered likely to play after playing the previous game missed. two matches due to stiffness / swelling with his left knee.