NBA Matchups: January 12

Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers

Team Totals: Celtics 106.8, Pacers 104.3

Injury Report: Marcus Smart (D, thigh), Goga Bitadze (Q, conditioning), Caris LeVert (Q, conditioning), Malcolm Brogdon (Q, Achilles), Chris Duarte (Q, personal)

Celtics projected starters: Dennis Schroder, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams

Pacers projected starters: Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert, Justin Holiday, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner

Udoka quotes: Said he’s really happy with how they’re playing on the offensive end because turnovers and rebounding, said Marcus Smart had tightness and he “felt OK initially” but it “swelled up and tightened up” after some time, said he thought Grant Williams was defending well and they went with Josh Richardson over Dennis Schroder for size on the defensive end, said Robert Williams is showing more consistency, said Marcus going out forced the rotation to tighten up (no Nesmith, Romeo).

Carlisle quotes: Said he loves how the team is competing, said Tatum hurt them on the doubles, said Sabonis “just keeps coming” with his energy, said “we’ll see who is available on Wednesday” against the Celtics, said Craig was very good against the Celtics’ wings, said he liked the Oshae minutes.

Stats and Notes: 

*These teams just played on Monday and it was a slugfest with a 101-98 OT win for the Celtics. Boston is playing some of the best defense in the NBA these days with a No. 2 halfcourt defense since Christmas, but they haven’t been able to score at 26th in halfcourt — Tatum not playing for a lot of that is a factor. The Pacers are getting killed in halfcourt defense at 26th since Christmas, but they do match up well with the Celtics here.

*Torrey Craig did a very nice job on Tatum for most of the Monday game, and he’ll likely get a decent amount of him. It’s not the best matchup for Tatum here, so I’d pass given his tag. 

*Jaylen Brown gets a better matchup and he’ll have more ball-handling with Marcus Smart unlikely to play. It’s not the best game environment, but the team really seems to want him to organize the offense a little more than Tatum right now.

*Dennis Schroder is likely going to start, so he could have a decent upside here. Although, there’s some major risk with Josh Richardson behind him, and J-Rich could also be on the board if he has a cheap tag.

*Myles Turner got played off the court and so did Horford, so those guys are pretty easy to pass. Sabonis gets a tough matchup, but he would be an option if LeVert and/or Brogdon can’t go.

Charlotte Hornets at Philadelphia 76ers