Celtics injury report: Starter demoted for Wednesday’s game against Nets

The Celtics will be shorthanded in the frontcourt on Wednesday night when they take on the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Boston will be without usual starter Al Horford, who is expected to miss the second half of the matchup with a sore toe. Jaden Springer was also sidelined for the third time in a row due to a knee injury. Kristaps Porzingis will be sidelined at least until December as he recovers from offseason leg surgery.

The good news for the Celtics is that Jayson Tatum has been removed from the injury report entirely after being questionable with an ankle injury on Tuesday night. He appeared to be improving from the injury in the final minutes of Tuesday’s NBA Cup loss to the Hawks, but said after the game that he was fine. Jaylen Brown also appears to be healed after missing four games last week with a hip injury. He scored 37 points in his second game back after the injury on Tuesday evening and is playing without restrictions.

Without Horford, Neemias Queta appears to be a good candidate for the starting center position, while Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman could receive more minutes as substitutes.

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On the other hand, the Nets could be without two key forwards as Dorian Finney-Smith is questionable with an ankle injury after missing Monday’s win against the Pelicans. Ben Simmons was also added to the injury report late on Wednesday as he is questionable with a sore calf. Day’Ron Sharpe, Trenton Watford and Bojan Bogdanovic also remain out for the Nets.

Brooklyn gave Boston a surprisingly tough game last Friday night at TD Garden, pushing the defending champions into overtime before falling in the extra frame. They remain underdogs at Barclays Center on Wednesday night, but will have fresher legs than a Celtics team that suffered a hard-fought loss to the Hawks on Tuesday night.

The Celtics were dominated on the glass and made a number of mental errors on Tuesday (season-high 20 turnovers), so Brown is looking forward to the chance to bounce back quickly.

“We need to be able to move forward,” Brown said. “We cannot allow it to become a habit. We have to be able to react well. That’s why I’m looking forward to filming. We are facing a back-to-back, we say. But we will learn from these situations and get better.”