The Boston Celtics play their first game of a away-home back-to-back at the Indiana Pacers, and they’ll do it without Robert Williams III and Indiana native Romeo Langford.
The Texas A&M product has been dealing with a sore left hip that also kept him out of Monday night’s shellacking of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Langford, while poised to return from a sprained ankle, isn’t quite ready to resume basketball activities just yet.
Defensive menace Marcus Smart is listed as “questionable” after also missing the Cavaliers game due to an eye infection, with both he and Langford beset with a seemingly endless list of minor maladies so far this season.
#NEBHInjuryReport for tomorrow vs Indiana:
Romeo Langford (right ankle sprain) – OUT
Marcus Smart (left eye infection) – QUESTIONABLE
Rob Williams (left hip soreness) – OUT— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 10, 2019
The Texan guard has been able to power through most of his issues, save a re-injury of obliques which saw him miss a stretch of games last season.
The hit, sustained against the New York Knicks on Dec. 1, forced the Oklahoma State product to sit a single game against the Miami Heat, only to see his body demand more time off with the eye infection at hand after a short return vs. the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 6.
Langford has only logged a single minute with the parent club as much from his own cavalcade of injuries as his inexperience, the Indianapolis native even having a hard time staying healthy to log significant minutes with Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws.
The Indiana product will travel with the team despite being unable to play, reports NBC Sports’ A. Sherrod Blakely, who will have a small army in attendance to support Langford’s team even though he won’t be dressing.
Though still recovering from a sprained ankle and unable to play, #Celtics rookie Romeo Langford looking forward to his Indiana homecoming Wednesday when C's visit #Pacers – @ASherrodblakelyhttps://t.co/OgqoF3Zb6k pic.twitter.com/dgQ5FA49P7
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) December 10, 2019
“It’ll be good, just to be back. I haven’t been back home in a while,” offered the oft-injured rookie.
No word on whether Smart, Boston’s longest-tenured player, will make the trip, but it may be wiser to take another game off to give his banged-up body a bit of a breather.
With All-Star forward Gordon Hayward returning to form and a potential revenge game against the Philadelphia 76ers looming the next evening at TD Garden, it’s possible Smart will rest against the weaker of the two opponents in order to save his energy for Thursday’s tilt.
In his first game back, the Butler product looked to be at the high level of play he was showing before breaking his hand in early November, and with the Jay Team (as wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are called) continuing to shine, the Pacers should be a challenging but winnable matchup.