KG has a tough practice

[Roy Hobbs]

Although he insisted following Saturday night's intra-squad scrimmage at Salve Regina University that he is not experiencing any pain in his knee, Garnett admitted to having soreness in the leg related to a calf bruise and shin splints. He sat the final scrimmage set of yesterday's practice, and was not involved in the team huddles during the 5-on-5 session, but did shoot alone for about 10 minutes after the workout.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he expects Garnett to start tonight's preseason opener against the Rockets in Hidalgo, Texas, but that his movement will be monitored closely throughout the exhibition and early season schedule.

"Today, I thought they bothered him more than the other days," Rivers said of the leg issues. "He went through the practice. But I didn't think he was great today.

"I just think it's from not playing. You take the time off that he took off. Then you get on the floor. Then you go through a camp that is live and hard. I think your injury is okay, but the stuff around the injury starts to affect you, and I think that's what's happening."

"It's going to hurt," the coach said. "You have to figure out whether it's pain or an injury. Kevin, so far, hasn't had any knee pain. We're lucky with that. But he's had all the other stuff. That's natural."

Ray Allen can relate. When he arrived for his first training camp with the Celtics two years ago, he was coming off surgery on both ankles. He said he expected that procedure - which happened in April - would cure everything. Yet, while it did fix the injury, he still dealt with unexpected pain around his ankles through the first half of the season.

"I kind of understand what Kevin is going through," Allen said. "You can have something minor done. But when you come back, you are always going to have soreness."

Rivers said he wants to get Garnett back on the floor in a live game in front of a full house, but downplayed the significance of tonight's effort.

"It's just another day," the coach said. "I am sure it will be built as (bigger than) that. I'm sure guys will be like, 'Kevin Garnett is back!' or whatever. Kevin is back on opening night as far as I'm concerned. Right now, he's just going to play basketball."

He just might not look at his most fluid doing it. Then, on the days when he does struggle, he won't be doing it at all.

"It's probably coming from me more than him," Rivers said of any sit-or-start decisions. "If it were left up to Kevin, he would probably never come out of the practice."

Link. (apologies to Scott Souza for quoting much of what he wrote.  It was all good and relevant, though.)

[j804]

Good find Roy, that pretty much answers my recent thread opened. It can be locked. TP

[Bahku]

 ... and the waters remain about as muddy as they've been for the last few months. The KG speculation has certainly given us all something to bandy back-and-forth, but the fact is, with an injury like this, NONE of us will know until it happens, until he actually starts playing ... including KG. (Crosses fingers again)

[indeedproceed]

Is it wrong that my gut reaction to this is "I shouldn't read this stuff anymore."?

[Roy Hobbs]

Is it wrong that my gut reaction to this is "I shouldn't read this stuff anymore."?

Nope, it's not wrong.

I'm taking the perspective that soreness is normal, and all surgery takes time to come back from.  As the article says (and as I've been repeating for weeks now), it took Ray about six months to come back from bone spurs.  Sure, they were in the ankles rather than the knee, but I think it shows that even minor surgery can slow you down a bit.

I still see no reason to panic.

[CelticG1]

Doesn't sound like a big deal at all. It will be an interesting year hearing about KG's injury status health etc. He'll have heaps of Celts fans worried every time he gets a cramp or winces in the slightest bit. It's all good though we just care THAT much. Hopefully once the season starts he can just get in a good rhythm, allowing us to stop freaking out about his every pain.

[RAcker]

During this first week or so of practice, I figured he would hit a wall at some point.  Now is the tough part.  He has to try and remain confident in what the trainers and doctors are telling him and work through the soreness.  Easier said than done...even for KG.

I think that as he gets into the pre-season schedule, he'll begin to break through this nagging soreness in his shins and elsewhere.  However, his rhythm will still be off for some time even though he may show us flashes.

I'm personally trying not to get too high or too low.  When I hear "healthy" or "structurally sound" I'm trying to maintain.  When I hear "soreness", "limping" or "unusual gait" I'm trying to maintain.

Serenity now!

[greenwise]

It´s normal that his leg is sore. He will be okay, and he will play. No reason to be see the glass half empty

[Cman]

Thanks for the update.  This all just seems a natural part of recovering from surgery, and nothing to panic about.  All though fan panic is a natural reaction  .

[MVP]

It will be interesting if during the regular season, the Celtics sit out KG in one of the games in a back to back situation, kinda like what Phoenix did with Shaq last year to keep him fresh. I think that would be a good idea for the first couple of months, especially if one of those teams is a bottom feeder like Minnesota, OKC, etc. We have some good depth with Sheed/Baby/Scal/Shelden to pick up the slack in those situations.

[greenwise]

It will be interesting if during the regular season, the Celtics sit out KG in one of the games in a back to back situation, kinda like what Phoenix did with Shaq last year to keep him fresh. I think that would be a good idea for the first couple of months, especially if one of those teams is a bottom feeder like Minnesota, OKC, etc. We have some good depth with Sheed/Baby/Scal/Shelden to pick up the slack in those situations.

We all should know how Doc manages these situations. If he is able to play, he will get his 30+ minutes every game. Otherwise he will not see the floor in 2 weeks or so to recover well and then come back. I think Doc learned from the Wally experiment of playing injured guys

[MVP]

It will be interesting if during the regular season, the Celtics sit out KG in one of the games in a back to back situation, kinda like what Phoenix did with Shaq last year to keep him fresh. I think that would be a good idea for the first couple of months, especially if one of those teams is a bottom feeder like Minnesota, OKC, etc. We have some good depth with Sheed/Baby/Scal/Shelden to pick up the slack in those situations.

We all should know how Doc manages these situations. If he is able to play, he will get his 30+ minutes every game. Otherwise he will not see the floor in 2 weeks or so to recover well and then come back. I think Doc learned from the Wally experiment of playing injured guys

It's not really about him playing injured, it's more of a precautionary move. We are hearing all the stories about how he is getting sore know, well his knee is going to be even more sore after playing in a real game and having 3-4 games a week. If he is going to take 2 weeks off, his knee is still going to get sore when he comes back until enough time goes by and he builds up enough strength.

Giving him a game off in a back to back situation will help him recover and also there's a worry of him injuring something else due to overcompensanting for the knee, so doing this will reduce that chance IMO. In addition, it will be a good excuse to convince KG to sit out a few games. We need him fresh for the playoffs, we can do fine in the regular season with him not playing all 82 games.

[Fafnir]

Coming back isn't going to be smooth. I don't think KG will be KG until January or February.

That is why I think we're going to be in the high 50s for wins.

[Johhny Least]

C'mon guys.  Do you really think that the Celtics would allow their franchise player to risk playing in a pre-season game if there were any problems with the integrity of his knee?  Give the Celtics brass a little more credit than that.  Yes it's sore.  That type of thing happens a few months after you have knee surgery.  Garnett has said that the knee is pain free, but we all know that KG's warrior mentality requires that we take that statement with a grain of salt.  There's probably some residual soreness that KG is reluctant to acknowledge.  And if his shins are acting up, then yes he's going to be a little creaky.  But the good news is that he's playing, he's starting, and he's playing on a more sound knee than he had last year.  No need to hit the panic button.

[wdleehi]

Anyone else think they might give him a few nights off early in the season? 


You know, for back to back games.