This isn’t going to be your usual meeting between the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies. The Celtics and Grizzlies both are down an absurdly large number of players for the Boston home game tipping off at TD Garden at 7:30 pm ET tonight.
The Celtics may be without as many as six of their roster and the Griz definitely will be without seven of their players with early-season dings and COVID-19 protocols keeping players from both clubs from taking the floor. The abundance of absences will make this an even more lopsided contest in favor of the Celtics, who still have several of their best players available despite the many scratches.
On the plus side, it should give Celtics head coach Brad Stevens plenty of cover for even more out-of-the-box lineup experiments, and plenty of leeway to put players on the court who haven’t seen much playing time thus far this season (we’re looking at you, Aaron Nesmith).
Celtics vs. Grizzlies: Prediction, point spread, odds, over/under, betting picks (Dec. 30) https://t.co/34YHNDJVxz
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 30, 2020
Given the highly unusual circumstances, there’s not so much to take from what we’ll see tonight — think of it as another one of the team’s preseason contests, even if it will count towards the standings.
Should the Vanderbilt product and other players deep in the rotation not get much floor time, it should tell us a bit about where they are at in learning the system (Nesmith) or the degree of security they have to remain with the team beyond the 2021 NBA trade deadline (Carsen Edwards, Semi Ojeleye).
And no matter how it ends up panning out, it’s going to be worth tuning in just to see these two skeleton crews go at it.
[jwplayer sGWiclXp-z6KDnl0B]
[lawrence-related id=44974,44975,44967,44965]
[listicle id=44963]