POST GAME DETROIT

This is getting sickening. I held my breath when Rondo went down...didn't say anything as not to jinx them.....and it still happens!

Here's the skinny from Boston Globe

Garnett injures lower right leg; MRI likely Thursday

KevIn Garnett left tonight's game with the Detroit Pistons after tweaking his lower right leg soaring for a dunk on a pick-and-roll with 2:38 left in the first quarter tonight against the Pistons. X-rays were negtaive and he is expected to receive MRI tomorrow in Boston.

Garnett appeared to hurt leg on his way to the basket and he hung on the rim extra long to avoid landing on the floor. He knew it was bad when he fouled Tayshaun Prince and then began grimacing. Television replays showed he sustained the injury on the jump stop.

At halftime, a Celtics player indicated he didn't think the injury was as serious as it appeared but we will find out tomorrow. The player said he believed it was a calf injury,

He walked to the bench under his own power and was heckled by Pistons fans. He then walked to the locker room escorted by trainer Ed Lacerte moments later. The Celtics are trailing in the fourth quarter.

It is the same leg that caused Garnett to miss the 2009 playoffs and hampered him all of last season. Garnett has played this season completely healthy and his production increased dramatically.


One thing is for sure Nat is no point guard and has no business playing the position. He cannot quarterback the team. The team looks flat and lost under his leadership. No one player is moving, cutting and doing the things with intensity as they due with Rondo at point guard. Let's hope for the best on KG.

The team had 21 Turnovers......no rhythm ...just flat!

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Followup from ESPNBOSTON

Kevin Garnett hurt, X-rays negative
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ESPN.com news services
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Kevin Garnett has left Boston's game at Detroit with a right leg injury.

Garnett grimaced as he threw down a dunk late in the first quarter, then immediately started limping when he landed, favoring his right leg. He made it back to midcourt before intentionally committing a foul to stop the game.

He was able to hobble off the court but was limping badly by the time he got back to the locker room. He was taken for X-rays and is not expected to return to the game.

The X-rays were negative for fractures. According to the team, he will wait until Thursday to undergo an MRI back in Boston to check for ligament damage.

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Garnett underwent right knee arthroscopy and removal of posterior knee bone spurs in May of 2008 after initially suffering the knee injury in March of that year. He missed the postseason, where the Celtics' hopes of defending their 17th world title were thwarted by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Despite returning for the start of the 2009-10 season, Garnett looked like a player still recovering from knee surgery. Two games after Christmas, in a game against Golden State, Garnett was kicked in the right knee, suffering a hyperextension that forced him to sit out 10 games. It wasn't until the playoffs that he returned to form.

Looking spry again this season, Garnett entered Wednesday's game averaging 15.4 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.

Garnett was in the spotlight entering Wednesday's game for his war of words with Detroit's Charlie Villanueva, who accused Garnett of calling him a "cancer patient," during in-game trash talk during Boston's win over the Pistons in early November.

Garnett fist-bumped every other Detroit player except Villanueva before the game, then Villanueva picked up two quick fouls for being overly physical towards Garnett. While leaving the court, Villanueva appeared to bump Garnett. But the rivalry took a backseat to Garnett's injury, which left Boston rattled late in the first quarter.

Information from ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Another Up Date which may be positive.

UPDATE 2: CBS Sports reports:

Ken Berger reports a team spokesman for the Celtics confirmed the injury for KG is NOT the right knee, lower leg.

I changed the headline to reflect that... though I'm not 100% sold on this being something other than his knee. Call me skeptical if you want... I'm not gonna believe it until we get MRI results

UPDATE 3: C's radio play-by-play man Sean Grande tweets:

No fracture, MRI Thu for KG. Players indicating its not as bad as it looked.

That's most certainly the best news yet. The last 2 updates are certainly skewing towards the positive side.

UPDATE 4: Not the knee

CSNNE officially reports via Celtics that it is NOT KG's knee that was injured. It is a calf injury.

More

Dr. M: Garnett's injury could be a ligament strain
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Dec 29, 2010

By Dr. Neil Minkoff
Special to CSNNE.com

OK. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Don't think of titles slipping away. Don't think about how the 2008-2009 season was lost. Don't think about how there's a Big Three South that will celebrate tonight. Just write about the knee. Just write about the knee. . .

I'm not yet convinced it's a bad ACL injury. Elite athletes who have had an ACL repair have a 5% rate of re-injury where they need another surgery. It could very well just be a ligament strain without a tear. It may not even be an ACL -- it could be another ligament like the ones that go down the edges of the knee. That would be consistent with the way his knee moved on the replay. KG could probably play with a knee brace in that case.

I like how he walked off on his own. Last time, he needed help getting off the court. The grimace doesn't mean that much to me. That's not the look of pain. I've worked in ERs -- that's a face of fear. He's scared of losing another year and another chance at a championship.

X-rays won't show anything -- they don't really work for ligament injuries -- only for fractures. KG will need an MRI tomorrow.

Stay tuned - I'll comment further as we find out more.

Tags: Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics, Dr. Neil Minkoff

OK ANOTHER UP DATE

Okay everyone... exhale.

I nearly jumped off the couch in jubilation after hearing Doc Rivers talk about KG's injury in the post game press conference:

"I don't think it's bad. I'm not that concerned. He's gonna miss some games probably. I don't think it will be that long."

It appears the injury is muscle related (calf?). We won't know the specifics until the MRI is done tomorrow.

Up Date Boston Globe: Looking Better!



Garnett injures right calf; Rivers: "I don't think it's that serious."
Link|Comments (31)Posted by Gary Washburn Globe Staff December 29, 2010 08:06 PM
KevIn Garnett left tonight's game with the Detroit Pistons after tweaking his right calf soaring for a dunk on a pick-and-roll with 2:38 left in the first quarter.

X-rays were negative but coach Doc Rivers said the injury is not believed to be serious. The Celtics lost, 104-92.

"Hopefully it's not a bad one," Rivers said of Garnett's injury. "I don't think it is. I don't think it's that serious, so I'm not that concerned. He's going to miss games probably. I don't know how many but I don't think it will be that long."

Garnett appeared to hurt leg on his way to the basket and he hung on the rim extra long to avoid landing on the floor. He knew it was bad when he fouled Tayshaun Prince and then began grimacing. Television replays showed he sustained the injury on the jump stop.

At halftime, a Celtics player indicated he didn't think the injury was as serious as it appeared but we will find out for sure tomorow.

Garnett walked to the bench under his own power and was heckled by Pistons fans. He then walked to the locker room escorted by trainer Ed Lacerte moments later. Piston team doctors arrived postgame to examine Garnett but he already had boarded the team bus and was walking under his own power.

It is the same leg that caused Garnett to miss the 2009 playoffs and hampered him all of last season. Garnett has played this season completely healthy and his production increased dramatically.

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Same talk as last season. Let's just hope they are not babuzeling us as always.

Ya, GK I was just sitting here and thinking the same thing. Just like 2 years ago. Kg will be back in 2 weeks...4 weeks, next month....playoffs and on and on!!!!

When the players come out and start saying it isn't too bad...it bad!

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Let's hope not.

Hard to believe Shaq only has a total of 4 rebounds in his last 3 games. With KG out now for an uncertain amount of games we need more production (and less fouls) from both of our O'Neals. And it would be nice to have Erden return from the witness protection program. I know he has a shoulder problem and also had the flu but it would be wonderful to have a couple of healthy big men available at the same time for a change. And I don't count Glen Davis as a big man. 6'7" - 6'8" is not big. Wide, yes, but not big.

New Orleans, after what the Lakers did to them last night on their home court will be an angry team on Friday. Just what we need...

Up Date

“I thought it was his knee the way he did it, a knee or Achilles,” Rivers said. “Injuries when no one’s around, to me, are always the severe ones, and there was no one around him. So that was the first thing. I thought it was a bad one. Let’s just hope not. I don’t think it is. But we’ll find out later.”

Just before the Celtics departed the Palace for the charter home, team spokesman Jeff Twiss confirmed that Garnett will have an MRI today and that the injury is “muscular in nature.”

“The doctor checked the knee joint stability, lateral and all that, and that came away good,” Twiss said. “So that’s good.”

So that falls in line with the calf injury we've been hearing about. We could be looking at anything from a strain to a tear... with the latter obviously being the most serious. But looking at it realistically... if it WAS a tear, he probably wouldn't have been walking around without a very noticeable limp. Of course, I'm just guessing here, but I do know from personal experience that you don't walk even close to normally with a torn muscle in your leg.

Maybe KG is superhuman and he can put on a show for the cameras. Or maybe it's just a strain. That can also cost him about a month... maybe more... if it's a bad one. But it's still something that he can recover from.


Taking a look at the diagram (yes, I'm actually doing this), the soleus muscle is the muscle that runs on the outside of the calf and around to the front. It SEEMS to be the area the team was working on when he came out. If it's NOT a tear (we'll find out today) then this is sounding more and more like a grade 2 strain. If that's indeed what it is, KG will be back in a month

Of course, I'm JUST GUESSING here. This is what you do when you don't know what's happening and you try to piece together things from tweets and 10 second sound bites. KG's getting the MRI today, so we'll see how close we are to being right.
http://www.redsarmy.com/.a/6a01156f2c3287970c0148c72c1344970c-popup

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Hey Folks................The Celtics are going to tell us spit about KG's leg. So don't wait all day for incoming results. They always treat injuries like the New England Patriots do..........they tell you nothing!


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Morning Up Date

Doc: We'll know more on KG later today
December, 30, 2010
DEC 30
9:51
AM ET
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By ESPNBoston.com
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Thursday morning he had no further information on Kevin Garnett's lower leg injury, telling Boston sports radio station WEEI he would know more later Thursday afternoon after Garnett undergoes an MRI.

“I think we’re in good shape here, but you just never know,” Rivers said. “I’m just going to wait for the MRI.”

Garnett injured the leg as he threw down a first-quarter dunk in Wednesday night’s loss to the Pistons, limping off the court and not returning. X-rays performed during the game showed no fractures. Rivers reiterated his optimistic outlook from Wednesday night, saying early indications are that Garnett’s injury is not significant and is not to his surgically repaired knee.

“We do think it’s muscle related, we don’t think it has anything to do with the knee, but we don’t know,” Rivers said Thursday. “So we’re just going to wait and see.”

Rivers said Wednesday night that no matter what, Garnett was likely to miss time. In his place, Rivers said Thursday, the team would give Glen Davis the starting nod in his place.

“It’ll be a short rotation clearly, we don’t have a lot of bigs left,” Rivers said. “Right now we’d probably start Baby with Shaq and then you have [Jermaine O’Neal] come off the bench. From there you may use Luke [Harangody], you may go with a smaller lineup with Marquis [Daniels].”

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JON BABY TO STEP UP!!!!!!

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The sight of Kevin Garnett going down was one that, unfortunately, Glen Davis has seen before.

For Jermaine O'Neal, he has had his share of injuries and can relate to what Garnett is going through better than most.

There is a time for sadness and disappointment in the fact that their teammate is down, and they have no idea for how long.

But those emotions can't last, not when there are games to be played and a title run to pursue.

And for Boston's chase of Banner 18 to continue chugging along, the Celtics will need both Davis and O'Neal to pick their games up in his absence.

Coach Doc Rivers said that while no timetable has been set for how long Garnett will be out, he does anticipate him missing some games.

When it comes to filling in for Garnett, no Celtic understands this better than Davis, who had the job two years ago when KG wound up missing 25 games in the regular season and the entire playoffs due to injuries.

Garnett's latest injury doesn't appear to be as severe, but Davis knows he has to be ready to step his game up now.

"It helps because I know what to expect," Davis said. "I know what I can do; I know what my limitations are. I know what the team needs me to do out there. I'm not Kevin, but at the same time, I do bring something to the table."

During the 2008-09 regular season, Davis averaged 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds as a starter. He was even better in the playoffs, averaging 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds.

"I'm going to step my game up as much as possible for our team," Davis said. "This ain't nothing I'm not used to. I've been in this situation before, and I've done a good job at it."

For O'Neal, he may find himself in a more familiar role with Garnett expected to be sidelined.

Prior to signing with Boston, O'Neal has spent the bulk of his NBA career as a primary option offensively.

With the Celtics, he has been more of a role player who rarely has plays called for him.

The way O'Neal sees it, him playing more is simply a way of re-paying Garnett for what he did during all those games O'Neal missed because of a sore left knee.

"When this team was put together, I'm sure that was something of the thought process," Jermaine O'Neal said. "It's a long 82-game season. Guys are going to go down. We have to be willing to step our game up when guys do go down. It's been a rough season for our team so far, and still we have one of the better records in the league. We just have to pick up the pace, and also be willing to extend ourselves that much more to pick up the void that probably will be left if he's not able to come back soon."

For O'Neal, that means more touches in the post.

In Wednesday's loss, O'Neal made both of his field-goal attempts and finished with seven points and six rebounds in just over 22 minutes.

"Obviously if he's out, I maybe get more offensive plays for myself," O'Neal said. "If not . . . I don't know what the situation is, but to me it's about continuing to build. I've been out for a while, so I need to be better the next game than I was the one before. That's what my focus is."

And only time will tell if that'll be enough to keep the C's atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Garnett's injury is only the latest health-related setback for the Celtics this season.

"We can win games, but usually [when we're] without Kevin, we have everybody else," said coach Doc Rivers. "The list [of injured players] is getting really long. I don't think anyone is going to feel bad for us; I just got that feeling. We're going to have to do something about it and go out and still win games."

A. Sherrod Blakely can be reached at sblakely@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sherrod on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sherrodbcsn




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I didn't see the second half, it was obvious we were struggling in the 1st half. The reports on KG, so far without the MRI, are positive. Let's keep a happy thought, for now.

So, Luke might get a chance. I like the kid, but that sure shows how beat down we are inre injuries. He's #12. If there's a silver lining in here it's that Rondo's going to be back soon. That should at least make our offense more fluid. Shaq's productivity will improve 1000%.

bob

.

Like it or not, this is a Celtic team that will have players go in and out of the lineup all year... much like last year. If we can be firing on all cylinders at the end of the year we will contend for the crown. Hopefully KG can bounce back from this within the near future but for now....GO CELTICS!

bob -
missing the 2nd half, you didn't miss much worth writing home about. PP had a pretty strong game, tried to get it done and certainly did his part, but other guys weren't able to and it wasn't something just one guy could shoulder and change. Doc had Quis bringing the ball up some ...

sooooooooo glad Rondo will soon be back among us ... he is a Change Agent for sure.

Michael

thank goodness!

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/

EVERYBODY BREATHE!

jeb wrote:
thank goodness!

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/

Thank you hoop gods.

What Detroit does, perhaps better than any other team in the league, is to play 'up," crowd the Celtics on the perimeter, and take advantage of the fact that the one really good Celtics ballhandler is not available. They cheat into the passing lanes, anticipate "telegraphed" passes, and keep the Celtics' three-point shooters on edge.

They can't do that with Rondo in there. i fact, we all know that the conventional "wisdom" is to sag off Rondo (the antithesis of crowding the Celts); and that sagging plus Rondo's qickness often creates mismatches and switches that leave Celtics open at the arc and/or inside.

This is just one of many reasons why Rondo's value can't be measured solely by statistics.

Sam