Jayson Tatum (r) and Sam Hauser

Thanks to the Emirates NBA Cup, which continues with both semifinal games this weekend before wrapping up with the Cup Final game on Tuesday, the Boston Celtics have had plenty of time to rest and recover. The defending NBA champions needed it. From November 29 through December 7, the Celtics played six games in nine days, including not just one but two back-to-back sets.

The Celtics put together a 4-2 record in that intense stretch of games, bringing their record to an NBA second-best 19-5 (with a blowout win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, the Celtics now stand at 20-5). But by the time they closed out that sequence against the Memphis Grizzlies, they were clearly suffering fatigue. The Celtics fell at home to the Grizzlies 127-121 in game that saw them miss nine free throws and a stunning 42 three-point shots.

That was an incredible number of missed threes, considering that the average NBA team takes only 35.1 three-point attempts per game in total, connecting on 12.8.

Celtics Hobbled After 9 Day, Six Game Stretch

The heavy slate of games appears to have taken some degree of toll on the Celtics physically. The team’s superstar MVP candidate Jayson Tatum was forced to miss Thursday’s matchup against Detroit with soreness in his right knee, causing him to sit out for only the second time in 25 games so far this season.

Bench three-point specialist Sam Hauser was also ruled out of the Thursday game with an adductor injury — the type of ailment that at one time was known as a “pulled groin.” And Team USA Olympian guard Derrick White has been battling a foot inury that caused him to miss a crucial showdown against the team with the NBA’s best record, the Cleveland Cavaliers, on December 1.

While the Celtics have appeared largely unstoppable this season, the one question mark that hangs over their season is health. Headed into another heavy stretch of games over the holiday weeks, it looked as if the powerhouse Boston squad may be hobbled.

But on Friday the team got exactly the good news about its injured stars that it was waiting for.

Tatum, Hauser Injuries ‘Definitely Progressing’: Mazzula

At Friday’s team practice, according to Celtics beat reporter and Locked on Celtics podcast host John Karalis, both Tatum and Hauser “went through everything at walkthrough …and both will make the trip to Washington with the possibility of playing on Sunday.”

Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla asserted that both players are “definitely progressing,” Karalis quoted him as saying.

The Celtics’ next game comes on Sunday against the team with the worst record in the NBA, the 3-19 Washington Wizards, so Mazzulla may choose caution and bench the pair anyway in that one. But looking ahead, the Celtics get another welcome gift of three off-days before diving into a frenetic holiday schedule.

Celtics Regaining Health for NBA Holiday Madness

This holiday season will be the opposite of a vacation for the Celtics. The three-week span sees them playing a game on every alternate day from December 19 until January 7. The only exception comes with back-to-back games on January 2 and 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets, both on the road.

That adds up to 11 games in just 20 days, six of them on the road. They play games on Christmas Day, against the Philadelphia 76ers, and New Year’s Eve against the Toronto Raptors, as well as two games against the Indiana Pacers who dealt the Celtics their first loss of the season back on October 30.

With the intense upcoming schedule the good news about Tatum, as well as Hauser, will be crucial for the Celtics. Just as importantly, the Celtics also got good news from White who in a meeting with the local media on Friday said his foot was “feeling a lot better,” due to the Celtics’ extended stretch of off-days during the NBA Cup.