The Boston Celtics will be playing without center Al Horford (elbow injury) and guard Avery Bradley (hamstring injury) for Sunday's contest against the Phoenix Suns. Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Horford's elbow sprain is not a long-term thing, which was confirmed by several league sources.

According to ESPN.com, this marks another setback for Horford after he suffered a concussion earlier in the season. He did play a full 82 games in the previous 2015-16 campaign, which was his final season with the Atlanta Hawks before joining Boston in the offseason.

When healthy, though, Horford is one of the better frontcourt players in the league; the four-time All-Star has averaged double-figures in points per game every season of his career since he was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft. He is always a double-double threat whenever he steps on the floor, helping anchor Boston's interior defense.

Horford can even extend his offensive capabilities from the paint to three-point range, and he is also athletic enough to be able to defend those areas as well. He is currently averaging 14.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks this season.

According to Mas Live, Bradley, on the other hand, has been occasionally injured throughout the season; he has been limited to just 39 games overall, including missing the better part of two months due to an Achilles injury. But when he is in the lineup, Bradley is currently averaging a career-best 17.1 ppg and 6.5 rpg while shooting a respectable 41.0 percent from three-point range.

While Horford and Bradley's presence is one of the main reasons why many analysts see the Celtics as one of the biggest threats to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference this season, there are enough pieces to survive a short-term setback. The Celtics are equipped with a lot of young talent that can supplement both players' absence as they make their push to the playoffs.

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