As Grant Williams Returns, Malcolm Brogdon's Status Uncertain for Sunday's Celtics-Wizards game

With Grant Williams serving a one-game suspension for "recklessly making contact with and directing inappropriate language toward a game official," Joe Mazzulla was forced to get creative in Friday's battle with the Cavaliers.

To combat Cleveland's size in a frontcourt featuring Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Mazzulla paired Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the backcourt. That allowed him to create combinations up front that partnered multiple members from the quintet of Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Blake Griffin, Noah Vonleh, and Sam Hauser.

Those amalgamations worked effectively enough to persuade J.B. Bickerstaff to downsize. The Celtics then followed suit, again showing off their versatility, deploying smaller lineups, including a unit with Smart, Brogdon, Brown, Tatum, and Horford, that helped Boston take a 75-62 lead into halftime against a defense that ranked second in the NBA entering Friday's tilt.

However, a sloppy second half where the Celtics' focus wandered resulted in turnovers, defensive breakdowns and surrendering 14 second-chance points in total, and coming up short for the second-straight game. It's a loss that puts more pressure on Boston to protect the parquet in Sunday's matchup with the Wizards.

Getting Williams back helps, creating even more options for Mazzulla, who can reliably ask the fourth-year forward to slide up or down a position defensively.

But the Celtics might be without sixth man Malcolm Brogdon on Sunday. After registering nine points and five assists in 22:16 against Cleveland, Ahead of Boston's game against Washington, Brogdon showed up on the injury report because of right low back stiffness. He's listed as questionable to play.

#NEBHInjuryReport for tomorrow vs. Washington:

Malcolm Brogdon (right low back stiffness) - QUESTIONABLE
Danilo Gallinari (left knee ACL repair) - OUT
Robert Williams (left knee surgery) - OUT
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 29, 2022

Inside The Celtics will provide updates on Brogdon's status as they arrive, leading up to the start of Sunday's game, which tips off at 6:00 pm EST.

Update:

When asked about Brogdon's status during his pregame media availability, Joe Mazzulla said he's officially active for Sunday's matchup.

Further Reading

The Top 5 Plays from Friday's Celtics-Cavaliers Game

Here's What Stood Out in Celtics' Loss vs. Cavaliers: Boston's Versatility on Display, but Turnovers Lead to Overtime Defeat

Once Uncertain Jayson Tatum Has Shown He Is Man For Job For Celtics

A Reflective Grant Williams Discusses His One-Game Suspension: 'I've got to be more mindful'

After Recent Defensive Lapses, Celtics Focused on Fundamentals: 'You can't get bored with doing the right thing over-and-over again'

[Film Room] Malcolm Brogdon's Fitting in Seamlessly with Celtics, but What's More Exciting is on the Horizon