Last Friday, for the first time this season, the Celtics had their entire roster available and injury-free.

A lot has changed in the last three days.

Boston’s most recent injury report, released hours before Monday night’s game against the Miami Heat at TD Garden, included all five of the team’s starters as well as pseudo-starter Al Horford.

Horford (left big toe sprain), Kristaps Porzingis (return from injury treatment) and Jrue Holiday (left knee tendinopathy) were all out against Miami. Jayson Tatum (right patellar tendinopathy), Jaylen Brown (non-COVID individual) and Derrick White (right ankle sprain) were listed as questionable.

Brown and White both sat out Sunday night’s 115-111 loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland, forcing head coach Joe Mazzulla to lean heavily on his bench and alter his usual plan for Porzingis and Horford. The two big players don’t typically play on consecutive nights, which is why Mazzulla prefers to stagger their efforts, with one sitting back-to-back on the first night and the other on the second.

Boston will now be without its top two centers against Miami, which should lead to larger roles for Luke Kornet, Neemias Queta and possibly Xavier Tillman.

Rotation backups Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard got big minutes Sunday with Brown and White unavailable, with Hauser starting for the first time this season and logging a season-high 36 minutes. Pritchard’s 36 minutes were his most in any non-overtime game this season, and he played the entire fourth quarter for the second straight game, scoring 17 points in the frame after dropping 19 in last Friday’s win at Chicago.

Mazzulla also made the surprising decision to give two-way player Drew Peterson 25 minutes against Cleveland, using the 6-foot-9 wing in the second, third and fourth quarters. Peterson, who is averaging 19.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the G League this season, had played just 30 NBA minutes in his career as of Sunday.

In his postgame press conference, Mazzulla praised Peterson’s defensive and basketball IQ, adding that the Celtics “try to find moments throughout the season where you can acknowledge the work the guys are doing, no matter who it is.” The Pro Sophomore finished the game with eight points on 2-of-6 shooting, four rebounds and one steal.

“It was great to see him out there,” Porzingis told reporters. “I like that he wasn’t shy. … He’s a good offensive player and wasn’t shy all night. He took his shots, played good defense and showed his game. In such a high-level game, it was really cool to see.”

The Celtics will have to rely on the bottom half of their roster again on Monday night, even if Brown, White and Tatum can play. If any of those three join Porzingis, Horford and Holiday on the inactive list, it could create additional playing opportunities for reserve players like Jordan Walsh, Jaden Springer, two-way player JD Davison and freshman Baylor Scheierman.

This injury threat came at a bad time for the Celtics, who are in the midst of a hectic stretch of five games in seven days. After the game against the Heat, they host the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

Miami will also be shorthanded in its first visit to TD Garden since last postseason. The Heat, playing Sunday in Toronto, ruled out Jimmy Butler (knee), Kevin Love (back), Kel’el Ware (foot), Nikola Jovic (ankle), Josh Richardson (illness) and Josh Christopher (G League). .

Originally published: December 2, 2024 at 1:46 pm EST