Ainge: Jermaine O’Neal Had Fractured Left Wrist All Postseason

Posted by Brian Robb on May 13, 2011 2055433 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F05%2F13%2Fainge-jermaine-oneal-had-fractured-left-wrist-all-postseason%2FAinge%3A+Jermaine+O%27Neal+Had+Fractured+Left+Wrist+All+Postseason+2011-05-13+18%3A00%3A11Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D20554

Danny Ainge just wrapped up with the media, where he confirmed Greg Dickerson’s report that Doc Rivers had agreed to five-year extension with the C’s. The other major revelation of the day however was picked up by Paul Flannery of WEEI.com who reported via hisTwitter account this surprising reality:

Jermaine O’Neal needs surgery on a fractured left wrist suffered in Game 1 of the Knicks series. Ainge said that contributed to the problems JO had finishing at the rim during the postseason.

I think it’s safe to say we were all pleasantly surprised and satisfied with JO’s effort during the postseason. Flannery himself deserves credit here for remaining adamantly behind O’Neal and what he could bring during his injury-riddled season.

The truth though is this explains a few things about JO this postseason on top of the around the rim problems :

1) Why we probably didn’t seem him in crunch-time in the vast majority of the games.
2) His somewhat lackluster rebounding averages of 4.3 boards/game.
3) With a bad back on top of this, Jermaine gutted through more than we even realized, and deserves a lot of credit for it.

Ryan will be back later this afternoon with further insight on this and Doc’s extension, but with yet another devastating injury coming to the surface this afternoon, it’s time to come to grips with the fact your Boston Celtics were tougher this postseason than we realized.