Mass Gereral Hospital - Celtics' West Sidelined Until Next Week & Others

CSNNE

WALTHAM — The Boston Celtics have taken a cautious approach to all injuries, with players coming back later than their initial return date.

So that puts Delonte West in some pretty good company.

The 6-foot-3 guard suffered a sprained right ankle injury during the morning walk-through session prior to the Celtics playing at Utah on Monday.

Between suspensions and injuries, West has missed all but eight games this season.

While the C's were hopeful he would be able to play this week, it looks like they are going to keep him shelved until next week.

"He will not play this weekend," said coach Doc Rivers. "Let's put it that way. And I think he'll be back right after that."

Look for West to return to the Celtics lineup in time for their March 9 game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

In his absence, the Celtics may lean on newly acquired Sasha Pavlovic, a 6-7, 235-pound veteran who can play both shooting guard and small forward.

Pavlovic signed with the C's on Thursday, and is expected to be in uniform for Friday's game against the Golden State Warriors.

"Whatever they ask me to do, I'm going to do it," Pavlovic said. "Try to help them win games."

As far as his role, Pavlovic said the Celtics have told him to essentially be himself.

"They told me to play my game when I get in the game," Pavlovic said. "Whatever coach ask me to do, I'm going to try and do that; I'm going to try to help defensively and offensively, whatever I can do, I'm going to try and do it."

He added, "I'm just going to keep it simple. There's a lot of great players on this team. So whatever my role going to be, I'm going to be happy to do it."

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WALTHAM, Mass. -- A collection of news and notes after the Boston Celtics practiced Thursday afternoon at the Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint:

An MRI on his ailing left knee came back negative, but Celtics reserve forward/center Glen Davis will sit out as much as a week while battling what the team has dubbed a strained patella tendon.

Davis revealed he's been playing through pain since as far back as last season, but had appeared in all 59 games of the 2010-11 season. The pain escalated while completing a two-handed jam in the final minute of Wednesday's win over the Phoenix Suns, forcing Davis to shut it down for a few days.

"It's sore; It's really sore, but I'll be okay," said Davis, noting he'll sit anywhere from three to seven days. If it's like most injuries this season, the Celtics won't rush him back, particularly after adding a pair of power forwards in recent days in Jeff Green and Troy Murphy.

Davis said he'll simply ice the knee each day and continue to work out as able to stay in playing shape. He said he's slightly relieved that there's no further damage to the knee, but the condition has worsened recently and he knows it's critical to get himself right before the postseason.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said it's been Davis' ability to play through the pain lately that's impressed him the most.

"If you ask me, the No. 1 quality to a great player in the NBA is availability," said Rivers. "You look at the great ones, they're always available. Baby's done a great job, really. They all have a higher pain threshold and they're all able to block it out and play. Baby's been able to do that this year and that's a big step for him."

--THE REST OF THE MASH UNIT--

Celtics guard Ray Allen received a maintenance day Thursday after telling coach Doc Rivers that his legs were feeling sore. He came to the practice facility and was spotted walking through the gym with trainer Ed Lacerte before the team's on-court session, but Rivers did not sound concerned about his 35-year-old shooting guard.

"It was his day [to rest]," said Rivers. "I told him to go to the [driving] range, hit some balls. But whenever someone complains about anything -- and ray said his legs were sore -- so that was on me, I said, 'Alright, it's your day.'"

Center Shaquille O'Neal took part in non-contact skeleton drills at the beginning of practice as he recovers from an inflamed right Achilles. He came back onto the court briefly after the session and did look slightly slimmed down after sitting out the past 11 games. O'Neal has not appeared in a game since Feb. 1. Rivers had said Wednesday he hopes to have O'Neal back by next week.

Guard Delonte West observed the session from the sideline while recovering from a freak right ankle sprain suffered in skeleton drills during an informal practice session with the team's new players on Sunday. Rivers said West will not play in Friday's game against Golden State or Sunday's visit to Milwaukee, but should be back on the court next week.

Troy Murphy offered positive reviews after his first true practice session with Boston after being signed Wednesday (and thrust right into the fire against the Phoenix Suns).

"It was great," said Murphy. "[I'm] just trying to still get into it, remember the plays, everything like that, but [it was] very competitive, it's a lot of fun."

Murphy and all the newest faces were held on the court after the session to log extra time learning sets, particularly on the defensive end with assistant Lawrence Frank.

"They're going to [do extra work] today, then we're bringing this group in tomorrow by themselves just to work -- we'll bring them in early before the game to work again and we can't worry about them right now being tired in the game, which they will be," said Rivers. "That's not a problem for us, we just have to get them reps."

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Now Nate's out 4-6 weeks.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AqsAB5Qv7lNRTbHYdhnmKFE5nYcB?slug=ap-thunder-robinson

Talk about trading the Thunder damaged goods...