BROOKLYNDoc Rivers has been tweaking his starting lineup all season, but this is not what he had in mind.
The Celtics' czar doesn't have a choice this time, with Rajon Rondo's sprained right ankle injury still too sore for him to return to the court.
He suffered the injury in the third quarter of Boston's 98-93 win over Utah Wednesday night.
Replacing him in the starting lineup will be Leandro Barbosa, who had a season-high 16 points Wednesday.
"I pretty much assumed he wasn't going to play the way he was walking this morning," Rivers said. "We did our little walk-through at the hotel with L.B. (Barbosa), and we'll try to play that way."
It is unclear if Rondo's ankle will be healed in enough time for him to play on Saturday against Toronto.
"I try not to get involved in that kind of stuff," Rivers said. "When he's able to play, whenever we play again, he'll play. If he's not, he won't. We'll keep moving."
Although Barbosa will start in Rondo's absence, that doesn't necessarily mean he will be the team's point guard tonight.
"We don't have another point," Rivers said. "I half-joked with our team, we're just going to play basketball tonight. Honestly, half our playbook, all that's out. We'll just play basketball and run a lot of motion stuff, try to keep L.B. as comfortable as possible."
In addition to Barbosa and Lee, Rivers said several others will likely man the point position including Jeff Green from his small forward position.
"We're just going to try and create the game as it goes, and see what we can see and see if we can win a game."