BOSTON — The Boston Celtics have played short-handed in some fashion most of this season.
So it would come as no surprise if they closed out 2019 missing one of their key players, right?
Celtics wing Jaylen Brown (illness) did not participate in practice on Monday, and he was ruled out of Tuesday's game at Charlotte.
LIVE stream the Celtics all season and get the latest news and analysis on all of your teams from NBC Sports Boston by downloading the My Teams App.
The absence of Brown will certainly be felt by the Celtics (22-8) who are looking to get back on track following a 113-97 home loss to Toronto on Saturday that snapped a five-game winning streak.
Brown was among the Celtics to struggle against the Raptors, finishing with 17 points on 5-for-12 shooting.
More than scoring, Brown has been a solid two-way player for Boston this season as well which has propelled him into the All-Star conversation this season.
Boston Celtics
Brown is averaging career-highs in several categories such as scoring (20.6 points), rebounds (7.0), assists (2.4), steals (1.1) and field goal shooting from 3-point range (40.0 percent) and from the field overall (51.8 percent).
With Brown unable to play, look for the Celtics to start Marcus Smart.
Smart recently returned to the lineup after missing eight games while dealing with an eye infection.
Don't miss NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Celtics-Hornets, which tips off Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live, and then Mike and Scal have the call at 3 p.m. You can also stream the game on the MyTeams App.