The Boston Celtics will be without one of their best players in Wednesday night's game against the Detroit Pistons at TD Garden.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters Wednesday morning that Jayson Tatum (tendinitis) has been ruled out. However, the 21-year-old forward's status for Thursday night's showdown versus the first-place Bucks in Milwaukee is encouraging.
The Celtics have won back-to-back games and sit in second place in the Eastern Conference standings entering this matchup with the Pistons.
Tatum played a huge part in Boston's last two victories. He scored 21 points versus the Chicago Bills on Monday night and dropped a career-high 41 points against the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night. His 21.3 points per game rank second on the C's this season.
Despite Tatum's immense value to the Celtics, they still should beat the Pistons without him. Detroit has lost three consecutive games and seven of its last 10 matchups. The Celtics beat the Pistons 114-93 in Boston on Dec. 20.
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Boston Celtics
Don't miss NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Pistons-Celtics, which tips off Wednesday at 6 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live, and then Mike and Scal have the call at 7 p.m. You can also stream the game on the MyTeams App.
