Celtics’ Neemias Queta leaves game vs. Magic with ankle injury

An ankle injury sent one of the Celtics greater part critical players to the locker room early in Sunday s encounter at TD Garden Starting center Neemias Queta came up limping after a midair collision with Magic guard Anthony Black midway through the first quarter Queta in visible pain was briefly evaluated on the Celtics bench before hobbling down the tunnel The Celtics communicated he was questionable to return with a left ankle sprain Queta jumped from fourth to first on Boston s big man depth chart following the offseason departures of Kristaps Porzingis Al Horford and Luke Kornet and he s impressed in his first season as an NBA starter The -year-old -footer entered Sunday averaging points rebounds assists and blocks per match with advanced metrics that rank among the league s best Only one NBA member boasted a better defensive rating than Queta s entering Sunday s action His net rating was seventh-best and his plus- plus minus was tied for th I think our defense is pretty good in general to start with but I think he s also really improved especially in his rim protection and his pick-and-roll defense Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed before Sunday s tournament He s done a great job just understanding his matchup every night understanding the schemes and kind of the offensive system and how we need to be He s really grown in that area It s a credit to him and obviously the guys around him who compete defensively as well The Celtics also have been a far better company with Queta on the court this season Their net rating drops by points when he sits according to Cleaning the Glass the third-highest disparity of any NBA player Luka Garza has been Queta s primary backup this season but veteran Chris Boucher was the first contestant off the bench to replace Queta on Sunday Boucher had been a healthy DNP in six of the previous seven games After Boucher s first shift the Celtics went small with -foot- Josh Minott at the five against a Magic association that was down starting center Wendell Carter Jr and his backup Goga Bitadze Boucher Garza and Xavier Tillman are the reserve big men on Boston s roster Two-way rookie Amari Williams who has yet to see meaningful NBA playing time was with the Celtics G League band on Sunday Excluding rehabbing superstar Jayson Tatum just one Celtics player has missed a encounter due to injury this season Garza sat out one with a concussion on Oct Losing Queta for any length of time would put strain on a relatively inexperienced roster that was one of the NBA s healthiest over the opening month of the season