Celtics will have to close road trip without Brown, Porzingis, & Horford in Utah

The Celtics will be closing out their five-game road trip a bit shorthanded tonight against the Utah Jazz. Jaylen Brown (sacroiliac sprain), Al Horford (left big toe sprain), and Kristaps Porzingis (right hamstring strain) are all listed as out for Tuesday’s matchup.

Porzingis’ absence will mark his third in as many games. He hasn’t gotten back out there since spending Thursday night doing his best to slow down two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, which is no easy task. Jokic was extremely physical with Porzingis all night, so it wasn’t shocking when he got the night off in Phoenix.

It also wasn’t shocking when he was out for Monday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. The big man usually splits back-to-backs with Horford, who played yesterday. However, it is somewhat surprising to see him out against the Jazz, but it’s likely just a “hey, Luke Kornet should be able to handle it” sort of day — fingers crossed, at least.

Again, Horford taking his scheduled rest day isn’t anything to worry about either. A big shoutout to the PR team for finding the funniest reason (besides simply listing him as “old”) to sit the veteran out.

Brown has been hanging around on the injury report for the past week with this sacroiliac strain. It certainly hasn’t seemed to affect his play as he’s been Boston’s most reliable player throughout this road trip.

He’s averaged 29 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists over his last five games.

It’s nice that he’ll get a nice rest before the team returns home to host the Suns on Thursday.

With these three being out for the road trip finale, you’d have to guess that Kornet will slide into the starting lineup at the center spot. Even though Payton Pritchard got the start in Portland, it feels more like a Sam Hauser sort of night since they’re looking to replace JB at the forward spot. It also helps that Hauser was on fire last night, hanging a crisp and efficient 22 points on the Trail Blazers.

Boston will be looking to earn win number 51 at the Delta Center against the Jazz and to pull a positive 3-2 record on the West Coast trip.