“He’s doing well. Just taking it one day at a time and seeing how he comes out of it”. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had this update to give out before Game 4, as Jrue Holiday continued battling with his ailment. Despite the positive outlook, the player eventually failed to participate in Game 4, making it the 2nd consecutive game of the ongoing playoffs he missed. While the Celtics have adjusted to playing without the starter, having Jrue Holiday by the team’s side for Game 5 would still be beneficial. Unfortunately, from the look of things, it is not meant to be.

According to the Boston Celtics Injury Report, as highlighted by ESPN, Jrue Holiday is listed as ‘OUT’ for the upcoming matchup against the Orlando Magic. This indicates that the issue with his strained right hamstring continues to be a bother, and has not healed enough to allow the player to put out a competitive performance against Paolo Banchero and co.

Jrue Holiday sustained the hamstring injury during Boston’s Game 2 win, back on April 23rd. The player had not indicated anything throughout the matchup that would have made people guess that he had sustained the ailment. After all, he played for 36 minutes, which was more than what he averaged during the 2024-25 season. During that period, he scored 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, and shot 4-9 (44.4%) field goals, 0-3 (0.0%) 3-pointers, and 3-3 (100.0%) free throws. However, after the matchup, he was listed as ‘Questionable’ for Game 3, before being eventually declared ‘OUT’. While he was soon shifted to a ‘Day-To-Day’ status, Holiday now won’t be there to either see the Celtics become the next team to enter the Conference Semi-Finals, or to see the Celtics-Magic series go to Game 6.

Jrue Holiday isn’t the only Celtics starter on the Injury Report. He has also had Jaylen Brown to keep him company over the last few days. Earlier this month, Brown had begun receiving pain management injections to treat the bone bruise with posterior impingement that had been affecting his right knee since mid-February. Due to that, he has been holding a ‘Questionable’ status on the Injury Report for a while. However, the last game Brown missed was before mid-April. Therefore, despite his injury status, there is a good chance the scorer will be there to assist Jayson Tatum and co.

The Orlando Magic themselves are not without injury trouble. Moritz Wagner had undergone surgery to treat his torn ACL back in January. This made him unavailable for the remainder of the season and the playoffs. 2 months later, Jalen Suggs underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to remove a cartilage fragment in his left knee. This makes him unavailable, too.

In light of these updates, both teams will have to make adjustments to the starting lineup.

What will the starting lineup and depth chart for the Boston Celtics-Orlando Magic game look like?

According to RotoWire, Al Horford will once again cover for Jrue Holiday in the latter’s absence. Meanwhile, Payton Pritchard will see more time on the floor to help pick up the slack in the backcourt. In the last 2 games since he assumed starter responsibility, Horford has averaged 6.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. A far cry from the 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists Holiday averaged over 62 games in the 2024-25 regular season. This means that the offensive effort will have to be carried out by Jayson Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis.

In light of these updates, the starting lineup for the Boston Celtics is expected to look like this:

Similarly, given the update for the Orlando Magic, their starting lineup might look like this:

The Boston Celtics or the Orlando Magic? Who will you be rooting for? Let us know in the comments.