CHARLOTTE — The Celtics will start Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, and Neemias Queta when they face the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night.
It’s the first time that particular combination has started; Walsh started the first five games of the season, while Hugo Gonzalez started in place of him over the last three. Similarly, Mitchell Robinson started the first five games of the season, while Neemias Queta started the last three.
At Celtics shootaround Friday morning, Walsh was
hard on himself when asked to evaluate how his first 8 games have gone.
Walsh’s minutes trended downwards in the games Gonzalez started. After playing 18 or more minutes in three of the Celtics’ first four games, he hasn’t played more than 12 minutes since October 27th.
“I haven’t been playing great — but the starting, not starting thing, it’s not about that,” Walsh said. “That’s just kind of Joe’s thing, like he wants to try new things. Like, that’s fine. But I’m still playing the same amount of minutes. So, I still gotta produce in those minutes. Like, I gotta do that better.”
On the other side, the Hornets will start Grayson Allen, Naz Reid, Brandon Miller, Colby White, and Ryan Kalkbrenner.
It is the Celtics’ second NBA Cup game of the season; they previously beat the Chicago Bulls 125-111 in the first game of of Group Play.
The Celtics are 6-2 to start the year, while the Hornets are 3-6.
