Danny Ainge when addressing the media last night regarding the status of J.O.'s knee and the decision to take the route of rehabbing the knee instead of  surgery also provided us finally with at least some information on what the issue (or partial issue is) for J.O.'s knee problem... which has been a mystery for weeks and months.

According to Ainge he said last night  that the problem (or one problem at least) with J.O.'s knee is that it (or a section of it) is down to bone to bone which is causing the pain and inflammation to occur.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view/20110120rip_misses_out_on_ray/srvc=sports&position=also

That is the 1st time at least I am aware of that Ainge or anyone else from the Celtics has given us a explanation on what the cause (or at least partial cause) is for J.O.'s knee flareups this year.

Now Ainge did not get into details about the the cause of the breakdown of cartilage leading to this bone to bone condition in J.O.'s knee, but I assume it is due to either several reasons or a combination of reasons such as past cartilage injury, surgery side effects and possibly due to simple arthritis as has been rumored in the past.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/news/story?id=5794411

But no matter the cause, the big question now that we know the J.O.'s knee woes is due (or at least partially due) to this bone to bone issue, is how serious is that bone to bone condition and will it allow J.O. to help the C's after he returns from his rehab in a month?

Will J.O.'s bone to bone knee condition be so serious that it will not allow J.O. to play through it  as is the case currently with Brandon Roy and his own bone to bone knee condition?:

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/13/brandon-roy-still-looking-for-answers-for-knee/

or

Will J.O.'s  bone to bone knee condition not be so problematic and allow him to play through the condition as is the case currently with Kobe Bryant and his own bone to bone knee condition?:

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/07/kobe-admits-his-knee-is-nearly-bone-on-bone/

Only time will tell how J.O.'s knee will respond  when he returns in a month, but lets all hope it all works out for the best.

Hopefully J.O.will be able to play through the knee condition (like Kobe is) and will be able to help the  C's down the latter part of the season especially come playoff time when  his veteran experience,  length, rebounding, shot blocking, shot altering, low post interior defense and six fouls will be important  to have coming off the bench.