Celtics Rule Out Al Horford, Robert Williams vs. Sixers

The Boston Celtics will be shorthanded on Wednesday night when they face the Philadelphia 76ers.

Going into the matchup, the Celtics had a crowded injury report, which featured a few key names. For starters, the veteran guard Marcus Smart was ruled out in advance as he’s dealing with an ankle sprain.

The other names on the list that stood out are Jaylen Brown, Luke Kornet, Al Horford, and Robert Williams. For Brown, he was likely to play as he was probable with a non-COVID illness. As expected, Brown was cleared for action, as was Kornet.

As for the other names, they won’t be as fortunate.

Robert Williams has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Sixers, according to NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg. According to the Celtics’ injury report, Williams is dealing with a left ankle sprain. Williams missed the first matchup against the Sixers, which took place on October 18.

At the time, Williams wasn’t expected to make his 2022-2023 season debut for a while. Williams missed the Celtics’ first 29 games of the season. He’s played in 20 of Boston’s last 25 games. He’ll miss his 34th matchup of the year on Wednesday.

In addition to Williams, the veteran big man Al Horford will also miss the matchup. According to Celtics’ injury report, Horford has swelling in his knee. Unlike Williams, Horford has been mostly available for the Celtics this season. The veteran appeared in 43 of Boston’s 54 games.

On the other end, Sixers center Joel Embiid was also questionable with foot soreness. However, Embiid’s entered the last seven games listed as questionable due to foot soreness. He’s played in all but one of those games. As expected, he'll get the nod to go on Wednesday.

Without Williams and Horford on the floor, Embiid could enter a much more favorable matchup this time around. In the Sixers’ last outing against the Celtics, Embiid scored 26 points and came down with 15 rebounds while draining 50 percent of his shots in 37 minutes.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.