Jaylen Brown was absent from Monday’s victory over the Heat due to swelling in his right knee. The All-Star is now questionable to return on Wednesday, while Jrue Holiday (shoulder) remains sidelined.
With both guards unavailable versus Miami, the duo of Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard was asked to step-up. Hauser joined the starting lineup and hit five of his eight three-point attempts, finishing with 15 points and four rebounds in 24.1 minutes of action. Meanwhile, Pritchard remained in his sixth man role, but finished the win third on the team in minutes (36.4). Pritchard’s shot wasn’t falling, yet he was a decent DFS asset thanks to 10 rebounds and eight assists.
With Jaylen Brown off the court this season, Jayson Tatum sees his usage rate skyrocket to an eye-popping 36.6%. Tatum also produces 1.46 FPTS per minute with his teammate sidelined. If Brown is forced out again, look for Tatum to have a massive performance in a prime matchup against an uptempo Spurs squad that is conceding 117.2 opponent points per 100 possessions across their last 10 contests.
