MAS*H Updates and KG's Pitch Count

by Jeff Clark on Mar 26, 2009 8:35 AM EDT in Boston Celtics News & Links

Its time once again to walk down the injury ward and check in on everyone.

First the good news. It seems like Pierce is fine and Ray Allen is showing no ill effects of that elbow issue (aside from playing with two sleeves). Also, the updated return date for Tony Allen is April 8.

Garnett is on a strict pitch count and admits that he didn't feel as good last night as he has in the first few games back.

"Tonight I didn’t look as good as the previous games," he said. "You go into it knowing you’ve got to do certain things to impact the game. With those things said, from the standpoint of being a presence I still thought I did a good job of being active. But playing against Rashard Lewis, one of the premier players in this league, it’s just what it is. No disrespect to anyone I played previous, but this is the high caliber of players."

With that said, Doc says that KG's minutes will be increased next week:

Garnett has been relegated to about eight minutes each in the first and third quarters since returning against San Antonio March 20. Celtics coach Doc Rivers, however, said next week the All-Star will begin receiving four additional minutes each in the second and fourth quarters. Rivers called the added minutes "the second stage" and a positive sign that Garnett is back completely.

I think this is a very, very wise decision by Doc and the training staff. You know that KG has only one speed (full steam ahead) and he can't be trusted to regulate his own speed. I think if he had a compound fracture he'd pull his sock up over it and try to convince everyone that he's fine. So deliberately easing him back into the flow is the right way to go, regardless of individual wins and losses.

The bad news is that we are not getting any positive news about Leon Powe. Here's the latest:

Powe was supposed to be out 2-3 weeks after bruising his right knee on March 17 in Chicago, but it's possible he will miss the remainder of the current schedule.

"I'm more concerned about getting Leon back for Game 1 of the playoffs," Rivers said.

Also, as reported already, Rajon turned his other ankle and seems to be taking it day by day. And last but not least, no new news on Scalabrine except Doc saying that "Leon and Scal are going to be out for a while."

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Comments

patience is a virtue

doc is doing this right as i’d i’d rather lose last night’s game and win in the playoffs.
last night is an ingredient within the recipe for that outcome.

Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk

by mcpu40 on Mar 26, 2009 8:50 AM EDT reply actions

Have Faith

I have not posted in a few days because I want to stay positive. What I take away from last night’s game is that the Celtics only lost by 2 points in Orlando without KG on the floor and without TA and Powe in the rotation. If KG is in that game at crunch time, this is a different result. If Powe is in the 4th quarter putting a body on Howard and grabbing rebounds, then Moore is not in the game and that is proving to be a good thing. I agree with another poster that we should all forget about the standings. I am done with it and will wait for the playoffs to start, with TA back and KG at full strength. Hopefully, Powe will be ready by the second round. The Celtics will turn it up in the playoffs. We all know that so let’s stop stressing about the regular schedule. The team has a long home stand coming up, which means more rest and more practice time. We will hoist number 18.. The Magic did nothing last night to dispel that.

by JPV on Mar 26, 2009 9:02 AM EDT reply actions

I put no stock in anything Doc says about injuries or when players will return. He has been proven wrong time and again. I do think that Leon’s injury is serious and he will be out a while and as for scal I think his career is over only he doesn’t want to admit it. Last year everything fell into place for us; we were injury free and we won all of the big games. This year we’ve been crushed by injuries and other than that cleveland game at home we’ve lost every big game we’ve played. I’ve never believed in teams that think they can “turn it on” at the end. There’s reasons we’ve lost these big games ( injuries, lack of focus, bad coaching) and those are the same reasons that in all likelihood will prevent us from repeating. Of course I hope I’m wrong but I’ve been saying for a while that unlike last year all of the indicators this year are that we’re not a championship team. WHy does Pierce have to wait until we’re 16 down to start playing hard? Why does Doc leave Marbury and Moore out there when that second unit couldn’t score or defend? he said it was a big game but then he played it like it didn’t matter. Too much confusion; there must be some way outta here..

by Red2 on Mar 26, 2009 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

playoffs is what matters...

the orlando played last night, i have absolutely no doubt that they r not championship caliber team..only howard is the guy both on defensive and offensive end is really good.
so i m not worried if we have to be in 3rd seed
just get healthy man..seign rando go down just sent shivers to me..and i cud see the whole game his defensive game was none..

by Vibe on Mar 26, 2009 9:40 AM EDT reply actions