Celtics Blog Pod 30: Abby Chin on the worst injury day ever

Brad Stevens told the media after his availability on Monday to be on notice when they’re playing HORSE on the practice court following Boston’s session. He’ll be watching, he said, because Boston needs the help.

Jay King, if conditioned, could probably step in and shoot some threes, or maybe NBC’s Brian Scalabrine makes a comeback.

It’s more likely Stevens will turn to Guerschon Yabusele, recalled from Maine, as the Celtics play without most of their roster on Wednesday.

NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin was on the scene Monday for the most jam-packed injury update Stevens has ever delivered. Daniel Theis is out for the season, Marcus Smart could be next depending on a second-opinion on his hand, Jaylen Brown’s still at home and Al Horford’s sick.

The fallout from Kyrie Irving’s 2015 left knee surgery continued, with the Celtics describing his current ailment in that knee as tendinitis. He left Sunday’s game against the Pacers and it’s unclear how Boston will handle him going forward.

Chin discussed what led to him leaving that game and how Boston’s handled Irving in a season that he reportedly threatened to sit out to undergo surgery on that knee in if Cleveland didn’t trade him.

Theis’ exit hurts, especially considering he suffered his torn meniscus with under one minute remaining in the game.

He emerged as a key cog off the Celts’ bench with an elite defensive box plus-minus and his best run coming since Jan. 1 in both three-point shooting (40.6%) and net rating. He had recently started a game and sat in the top-10 in various rookie leaderboards despite only ranking 30th in rookie minutes per game.

Greg Monroe will now fill the entirety of Boston’s front court reserve play, unless Yabusele can work his way into the rotation and Semi Ojeleye proves able to slow fours and fives.

Then Marcus Smart injured the same hand he punched the picture frame in Los Angeles with, this time the front rather than the back. There’s conflicting reports on if he tore his right tendon or not and he’s awaiting a second opinion on if he can play again.

In lighter news, weird Celtics Twitter is hitting the national scene and Chin and here colleagues discussed it on NBC Sports Boston this week. Do the players realize all of this is going on? We get added context from our Max Lederman interview.

Chin says there’s still room for optimism, it’s harder for me to view this situation this way. How are you feeling after this week’s news?

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