Latest update on Garnett: Apparently Garnett injured his right calf and not his right knee. Doc Rivers said after the game that he's not overly concerned, that he doesn't think the injury is that serious, but he expects Garnett to miss some games. Here's a recent tweet from Sean Grande:
On the bus, headed for the airport. KG is here. To repeat our post game; not the knee & not a fracture, but calf and muscular. Don't panic.
The Boston Celtics fall to the Detroit Pistons, 104-92.
The real news tonight was obviously Kevin Garnett's first quarter departure after he came up limping following a dunk with roughly 2:39 left in the opening frame. The issue was dubbed a "lower right leg injury", X-rays came back negative (no fractures), and he'll have an MRI tomorrow in Boston. I suspect we won't know too much more until the results of that MRI are released. Gary Tanguay said during a commercial break on the telecast that it is apparently not a knee injury, but more of an issue with Garnett's right calf. We can only hope.
As for the game...
- Boston trailed 74-62 heading into the fourth quarter, and despite a valiant effort from Paul Pierce, the C's could never close within more than nine points. Pierce really did his best to take the game over and lift his teammates, but the Celtics couldn't earn the necessary stops on defense. Charlie Villanueva, Tracy McGrady, and Richard Hamilton all hit key shots as the Pistons fought to maintain their lead. Doc Rivers and his players did not seem to be very pleased with the officiating.
- Pierce scored a game-high 33 points, with 13 of those coming in the fourth quarter.
- The Celtics were already playing somewhat sluggish when Garnett was in the game, but things went downhill steadily once he left. The Celtics trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, more than likely somewhat deflated by the loss of Garnett.
- Turnovers hurt the Celtics throughout the entire game, but especially in the first half. The C's turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter, and 13 times in the opening 24 minutes. For the game, the Celtics gave the ball away a season-high 21 times, compared to just 18 assists. The ball wasn't moving tonight as often as we are used to seeing it moved.
- Jermaine O'Neal's been back only a few games now, but tonight was his best night back production-wise, as he scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds.
- Von Wafer and Luke Harangody also contributed valuable minutes tonight. Wafer was good defensively, and Harangody brought his usual hustle.