The Boston Celtics will start point guard Shane Larkin in place of the injured Kyrie Irving against the Chicago Bulls tonight, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell.
Irving is dealing with knee soreness, and the medical staff has chosen to play it safe for the time being through this latter stretch of the season. Irving did not take an MRI on his knee, but he could be held out the rest of the week to allow the soreness to pass.
“It doesn’t sound like it’s a long-term concern, but it certainly could last through the week,” Stevens said, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
Larkin has gotten some spot starts throughout his three-plus-year career in the league, but he's only been active for coach Brad Stevens in three of the last 14 games — totaling only 22 minutes between the three games in which he played.
The Celtics will still have Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier to bolster the backcourt, but Stevens is likely seizing this opportunity against a bottom-dwelling team to reward his players for staying engaged and keeping them ready for a postseason run.
Stevens noted he'll play the matchup game in hopes to keep the good roll in which his bench is on, having won four straight games prior to a narrow loss to the Houston Rockets.
“The bench is playing so good. I don’t want to mess with that. Obviously we’ll do it game by game, matchup to matchup if Kyrie misses more games, but we want to keep that bench group together as much as possible.”
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