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Brad Stevens' Celtics have 15 games left in the regular season. They know they're heading to the playoffs and, despite a pair of meetings still with the sizzling first-place Raptors, the C's are four games back.
But, they're six-and-a-half up on the Pacers and seven in front of the Cavaliers, so it would really take quite a breakdown for the Celts to lose their stranglehold of second.
That means, as Stevens notes of all-star Kyrie Irving's knee, it's time to rest up and get as healthy as possible.
“What we’re really focused on now is making sure that knee feels as good as possible, heading into April,” Stevens said. “I don’t know what that means from the standpoint of playing this week, next week, any of that stuff. Obviously, we could, conceivably, be down some bodies.”
Boston will host Washington tonight at 8 p.m. and Irving, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart are all out indefinitely with injuries. Daniel Theis and Gordon Hayward won't play either, since they're presumed done for the year.
Al Horford? Hopefully. He's questionable with an illness.
Celtics have won six of eight, and they've split two meetings with the Wizards this year. The Wiz are missing star John Wall and they've lost five of seven, including a 116-111 setback last night to the Timberwolves.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman reports: