Brad Stevens rattled off the names one after another, and the list continued longer than he would have liked.
“Al’s out, Gordon’s out, Kyrie’s out, Guerschon’s out, Baynes is out,” the Celtics head coach said before Monday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Then a slight pause. “I think that’s it.”
With Horford, Hayward, Irving, Yabusele, and Aron Baynes all sidelined, Stevens went deep into his bench in the Celtics’ 113-100 win. He relied on rookie Robert Williams against Anthony Davis, started Terry Rozier, and asked Brad Wanamaker to run the point off the bench, but he also turned to one other player – once again – for a heavy dosage of minutes.