It Never Ends: Delonte West Sprains Ankle, Will Miss Tonight’s Game

Posted by Brian Robb on Feb 28, 2011 1719816 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F02%2F28%2Fit-never-ends-delonte-west-sprains-ankle-will-miss-tonights-game%2FIt+Never+Ends%3A+Delonte+West+Sprains+Ankle%2C+Will+Miss+Tonight%27s+Game2011-02-28+20%3A49%3A40Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D17198

The injuries are getting a bit comical at this point, but the C’s took another hit yesterday, when Delonte West sprained his right ankle during…..a skeleton drill of all things….by stepping on a teammate’s foot. I’ll let Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe take it from there:

“It’s not a bad sprain,” Rivers said. “If it was a playoff game, he’ll play. But you know how we are now. He’ll miss today, maybe even Wednesday’s game and then he’ll be back after that.”

Injuries have been the story of the Celtics season with nine different players missing a combined 177 different games.

“It’s been one of those years,” Rivers said.

After starting the season with a 10-game league suspension, West missed 39 games after breaking his wrist in November. He’s played just eight games this season.

“I don’t even think they noticed today,” Rivers said. “We were doing film and I said, ‘Delonte’s not here.’ The guys were looking around. I don’t even think they count anymore who’s in the room and who’s not. They just kind of focus on what they have to do and move forward.”

Obviously, not a huge blow, but given how terrific Delonte looked Saturday night against the Clippers, this setback if nothing else, may set back his rhythm a bit. Still a skeleton drill? Doc can’t even catch a break in non-contact practices.

As for tonight, luckily the Jazz are not as deadly at the point guard spot with Deron Williams shipped out of town. Look for Doc to go heavy on the minutes with Rajon Rondo and perhaps we see some Ray Allen/Paul Pierce point forward maneuvering like earlier in the year as well. There’s a chance of course Avery Bradley could be thrown into the fire as well in the second quarter, but that hasn’t gone well this year either, so Von Wafer will likely be beneficiary of most of the extra minutes that West has taken, with the Pierce/Allen/Rondo trio handling the point duties.

Finally, Benbow also noted via his twitter account that Danny Ainge expects Shaq back in 1-2 weeks and Jermaine O’Neal returning in 3-4 weeks. Take it for what it’s worth.