BOSTON —Neemias Queta went down with a left ankle sprain within the first quarter of Sunday’s Celtics recreation towards the Orlando Magic, and the group later shared he was questionable to return.
After the sport, Joe Mazzulla didn’t have an replace, sharing he had but to talk along with his beginning heart.
At apply on Tuesday, Joe Mazzula maintained he had not seen Queta nor spoken with him, however Queta did make a short look, strolling throughout the apply court docket in sneakers on his option to the burden room.
How does that bode for Queta’s availability forward of Wednesday’s Celtics recreation towards the Detroit Pistons? That is still to be seen.
However with Queta probably slated to overlook a while, the Celtics should determine one other resolution within the frontcourt.
Queta has began all 17 video games for Boston this season, and the Celtics have outscored opponents by a team-best 16.4 factors per 100 possessions. In the meantime, when he’s off the ground, the Celtics have been outscored by 6.4 factors per 100 possessions.
A lot of the affect is felt on the defensive finish; in 382 minutes with Queta on the ground, the Celtics’ defensive score is 105.3, which might be good for second-best within the NBA. In 340 minutes with him off the ground, the Celtics’ defensive score is 125.4, which might be the third-worst within the league.
The 26-year-old is averaging 9.3 factors, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 23.6 minutes per recreation.
And, Queta’s teammates know that everybody should step up if he’s to overlook prolonged time.
“He offers a whole lot of shot-blocking,” stated Sam Hauser. “With out his presence down there, we now have to make up for it in different methods — be aggressive, maintain guys out of the paint, rebound rather well collectively, and simply making an attempt to be a playmaker on protection.”
In Neemias Queta’s place, the Celtics have a number of choices
Luka Garza has been Joe Mazzulla’s most well-liked alternative as backup heart this season; he’s averaged 7.1 factors and 4.2 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per recreation, whereas capturing 56.7% from the sphere and 43.5% from three. However the protection has not been as efficient with the previous Iowa star anchoring the publish.
Mazzulla has a couple of different choices. Xavier Tillman has solely appeared in 8 video games this season, however has appeared in crucial moments, and was on the ground to shut out a clutch-time win over the Philadelphia 76ers final month. And, Chris Boucher performed some minutes at heart on Sunday, however has been used sparingly by Mazzulla.
“We don’t actually have a man that replaces what Neemy does for us,” stated Derrick White. “So it’s obtained to be only a group effort, clearly — X, Luka, Chris, they’re gonna get a much bigger likelihood, and we’re gonna want quite a bit from them. However, it’s additionally on us — we don’t have Neemy again there to sort of take out a few of the issues or the errors we make on the perimeter. So it’s gonna be a group effort — rebounding, all the pieces. Hopefully, he comes again as rapidly as attainable, however all of us gotta step up.”
