Boston Celtics’ third game in a row due to COVID-19

BOSTON – The NBA announced on Tuesday afternoon that Wednesday night’s game between the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic at TD Garden has been postponed because the Celtics cannot line up the minimum eight players due to players entering the league’s health and safety protocols.

Sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the status of Friday’s game between the same two teams here was still unclear.

The announcement marks the third consecutive game the Celtics have postponed, following Sunday’s game here between the Celtics and Miami Heat and Tuesday night’s game in Chicago against the Bulls. Sunday’s game was postponed as the Heat was unable to line up eight players, while the last two were because Boston fell below that threshold.

Five NBA games have been postponed so far this season – the three with the Celtics, the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks to be played Monday night, and the game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder on December 23.

Last Friday, Boston announced that three players – Robert Williams, Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson – would all be out of that night’s game against the Washington Wizards for enacting the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols. On Saturday afternoon, the team added four more names to the injury report for the same reason: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Semi Ojeleye and Javonte Green. All four of them were also on the list on Sunday afternoon because of the protocols.

The team has not provided an updated injury report since Sunday-evening, but that number has since clearly risen above those seven players. A source said Boston doesn’t have to issue an injury report until 5:00 p.m. the day before the next scheduled game, meaning no official update needs to be given before 5:00 p.m. Thursday, assuming Friday’s game against Orlando remains on the program.

Given the uncertain and evolving nature of the pandemic, the NBA has not established set criteria for contact detection situations. Based on the amount of time other players – including Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant – missed due to contacts tracing, which appears to take about a week, the earliest the Celtics could get any of their players back on Thursday or Friday.

Boston is far from the only team dealing with this. Four other teams – the Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, and Chicago Bulls – have at least four players included in the league’s Health and Safety Protocols. The Heat and Sixers will play in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, with Miami having eight or nine players depending on Meyers Leonard’s (shoulder) status, while Philadelphia will have ten after Ben Simmons would play as likely after missing the previous two games due to stiffness / swelling with his left knee.