Archive for the ‘Injuries’ Category

Some breaking news from The Garden tonight, courtesy of Adam Jones of 98.5 The Sports Hub.

First, Rasheed Wallace is out with a sore left foot tonight. No word yet on who will start in his absence, but needless to say the C’s will be extremely thin up front tonight with Perk, Baby, Scal and Shelden Williams having to carry the load.

Next up, Doc Rivers talked about KG in his pregame session with the media and he says The Big Ticket will not practice for at least the next 10 days.

Much more on these stories later tonight as the news comes in, but not good news tonight for the C’s on both the short and long term front.

It’s halftime and the C’s have a tidy 10 point lead against the Raptors. We’ll have more on that later, but there was a lot of news today in the pregame tonight from Doc and company regarding the status of the injured starters. Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com gets us up to date on the latest:

First KG:

“KG’s still 10 days, maybe, I don’t know,” said Rivers. “I have no idea, I honestly don’t. There is some history with hyperextended knees that we kind of know that it takes at least two weeks, sometimes three. We know it won’t be longer than that, but we don’t know how quickly. There’s a history there — not with [Garnett] — but with league history.”

That’s not good…..sounds a little hokey but the time to be cautious is now. Give the guy all the rest he needs.

Next, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo:

“Rondo and Paul would be first in line,” said Rivers. “I think Rondo will play in the Miami game. I think Paul is 50/50, he’ll try to practice on Monday and we’ll see how it feels,” said Rivers. “With infections, hell, we don’t know how to treat that, nobody [here] has ever had that. We’ll find that out. We don’t know what will happen once he practices. It could swell, it could feel great. We just have to wait and see.”

So there you have it. Mike Gorman commented that he has a “feeling” we wouldn’t see The Truth until the end of next week and given the fact that Pierce commented he still can’t bend his knee fully right now, a Wednesday return seems a bit optimistic, even maybe foolish to push it that hard, so soon.

Back to the game for now, much more on these injuries and tonight’s game in the upcoming hours.

The news comes in from ESPNBoston.com Celtics beat man Chris Forsberg, after the team had a New Years’ Day practice back at Waltham.

Doc is finally taking his foot of the gas with number 9 after playing him 45+ minutes multiple times on this road trip. Rajon played just 32 minutes during the blowout in Phoenix. Hamstring injuries can tend to linger in general, so this looks to be something that Doc wants to nip in the bud before it becomes more of an issue. With Rondo sitting out Saturday, he would get a full week of rest before the C’s next game Wednesday in Miami.

Replacing him in the starting lineup will be none other than J.R. Giddens which comes as a bit of a shocker as well as a late Christmas present for Brendan Jackson. According to Forsberg, Doc tried to keep news under wraps but Perk spilled the beans in a post practice interview session. Forsberg has more from Giddens reacting to the news:

“It’s a dream come true,” said Giddens, who jokingly prayed that Rivers wouldn’t change his mind. “I’ve been working hard –working and working — I have to go out and get it done now. Me getting this chance, it’s probably the biggest chance in my NBA career. I don’t even know to describe it in words.”

Giddens planned to return to the Sports Authority Training Center Friday night to get in some extra shots and a run — but stressed he didn’t want to overdo it on the eve of his big chance.

“You’ve all seen me for last year and all of this season — I’m anxious to get out there, share my gift with the world,” said Giddens.

Rivers pulled his youngest players — Giddens, second-year forward Bill Walker, and rookie guard Lester Hudson — into his office Friday morning and made the announcement that Giddens would work with the first team. He also stressed how all three players must step up with Boston battling injuries.

We’ve talked a lot here on Celtics Hub about taking off the reins on the younger players and giving them a chance. The absurd amount of injuries to the team however have appeared to force Doc’s hand, so it will be interesting to see how they respond. I’m also curious to see how much run Hudson and Walker get along with Giddens, as well as if this will be more than a one game opportunity. Playing against a porous Toronto defense Saturday though will be a nice chance for these guys, especially Giddens, to make a positive impression playing their first meaningful minutes of the year.

Giddens’ insertion into the starting lineup means we will likely be seeing Ray Allen or perhaps even TA handling point guard duties with the starting five. Certainly not an ideal situation for the first team’s offense but one that bears watching. The team does stand to benefit defensively however with Giddens in the lineup as opposed to Eddie House against a Raptor team that has a good deal of offensive firepower.

Finally, Forsberg also reports Big Baby will play Saturday barring an unforeseen setback with his ankle. With Davis in uniform, it will give the team 11 active players against The Raptors.