Update: KG to miss final two regular season games

Posted by Brian Robb on Apr 13, 2009 13680 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F04%2F13%2Fkg-will-not-return-until-playoffs%2FUpdate%3A+KG+to+miss+final+two+regular+season+games2009-04-13+19%3A22%3A25Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D1368

The Boston Globe is reporting that KG will not be returning as expected for Wednesday night’s game against Washington and will instead sit out until the playoffs begin Saturday in Boston against an undetermined first round opponent. Some thoughts from Doc:

“We just being careful right now,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I don’t see the benefit of playing Kevin right now, with the practice we’re going to have.”

Rivers called off practice Monday, but Garnett, Leon Powe, and Brian Scalabrine worked out and will participate in tomorrow’s shootaround at the Wachovia Center.

Quick Analysis: Again this could be a sign as another reason to panic about KG’s status but I am happy with Doc’s decision here. In fact I have been pushing for it ever since the Big Ticket has his setback a couple weeks back. Here is some of what I wrote in that piece:

In fact I would implore Doc Rivers to be overly cautious and rest the Big Ticket for the remainder of the regular season. Let him work off the rust in the 1st round of the playoffs. Even with KG only playing 20-25 minutes, the Celtics should be able to defeat any potential 1st round foe in a 7 game series.

One final reason I would encourage the extended rest is because of this team’s experience. This is not last year when the starting five were still learning how to play effectively with each other and were pushed to the brink in the first two rounds. It is one year later now and they have all developed a very nice understanding of each other’s game which showed in their dominance in the 1st half of this season.

So why risk having Garnett come back before you really need to at the end of the regular season? Give KG the extra rest and increase his chances at being 100 percent. The closer the Big Ticket is to that, the higher this team’s likelihood is of getting back to the Finals.

My stance now is consistent with that. I might even be in favor of resting KG for some/all of the 1st round (depending on what opponent is waiting for us) if it’s evident another week of rest would be beneficial for his recovery.

Now if Doc had run a practice today in which Garnett participated fully and then announced KG would be out for the rest of the regular season, it would be time to hit the panic button. After this latest development today, it’s likely it is just another cautious step in hopes of getting back a healthy but likely rusty Big Ticket on Saturday.