As Garnett Heals, Celtics Aim for the Rafters Again
WALTHAM, Mass. — From corner to corner, banners denoting the Boston Celtics’ 17 N.B.A. championships hang like badges of honor in the team’s practice center here. They snake around the building until reaching a blank one, recently installed by Coach Doc Rivers.
Even if the writing is not on the wall yet, the mission is clear.
The team is built to win now. And with an encouraging prognosis of Kevin Garnett’s surgically repaired right knee, the prospects are better than for the Celtics’ decimated roster during last season’s playoffs.
As N.B.A. teams begin training camp this week, the league is sprinkled with difference makers hoping to return from season-derailing injuries. The lengthy list of franchise figures who are healing includes Amar’e Stoudemire, Tracy McGrady, Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas, Manu Ginobili and Michael Redd.
No comeback may be more integral to a team and its immediate championship aspirations than Garnett’s. At the Celtics’ media day on Monday, Garnett, the team’s defensive leader and emotional barometer, declared himself prepared to start training camp and the regular season.
“It was pretty severe, but the best thing about it is that I got it out of the way, and my leg is almost 100 percent going forward,” Garnett said. “Better than anything, I’m playing without any pain, which is something I really haven’t had for some time now.”
He made his first public comments in six months, addressing an injury that had been clouded in mystery. Reporters crowded Garnett as he sat next to a podium before his news conference. When asked if he could understand why reporters wanted to talk to him immediately, he responded with a smile.
“Yeah, I know,” he said.
Garnett injured his knee on an alley-oop against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 19. He sat out the next 13 games before playing scant minutes in four games and missing the final nine games of the regular season.
His postseason status became a guessing game and wore on Rivers, who soon declined to address Garnett’s status. In the playoffs, the Celtics were exhausted by injuries that extended beyond Garnett. They outlasted the Chicago Bulls in a tug-of-war first-round series before succumbing to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic.
“It wasn’t pleasant,” Garnett said. “It wasn’t pleasant at all for me to watch that. At all. None of the basketball that we played last year that I had to watch was pleasant for me. I did it. I sat on the side because my teammates wanted me to sit on the bench. Other than that, it was pure excruciating.”
The bone spurs on his knee were larger than he expected, he said, although he did not address many specifics of the injury. His operation was complicated because there was concern that the removal of the spurs could damage nearby tissue.
Garnett, 33, spent the bulk of the summer rehabilitating his knee in Las Vegas with his teammate Glen Davis and resumed playing five-on-five last week. “No setbacks,” he said, knocking on the practice court’s parquet floor for luck.
Rivers said Garnett would face no restrictions when the Celtics held their first practice Tuesday. “I’m just going to throw him out there, and then I’m going to try and talk him out of some of the drills,” Rivers said.
Without Garnett, the Celtics’ championship window appeared to close a bit. Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are all in their 30s. But Danny Ainge, Boston’s president for basketball operations and general manager, propped it open for another crack at a title. He retooled the roster, signing the veteran Rasheed Wallace and bringing in Marquis Daniels and Shelden Williams.
Now, the Celtics have an apparently healthy Garnett and an empty banner that requires filling.
“It’s like riding a bike,” Garnett said of his first action since last season. “It comes back to you.”
WALTHAM, Mass. — From corner to corner, banners denoting the Boston Celtics’ 17 N.B.A. championships hang like badges of honor in the team’s practice center here. They snake around the building until reaching a blank one, recently installed by Coach Doc Rivers.
Even if the writing is not on the wall yet, the mission is clear.
The team is built to win now. And with an encouraging prognosis of Kevin Garnett’s surgically repaired right knee, the prospects are better than for the Celtics’ decimated roster during last season’s playoffs.
As N.B.A. teams begin training camp this week, the league is sprinkled with difference makers hoping to return from season-derailing injuries. The lengthy list of franchise figures who are healing includes Amar’e Stoudemire, Tracy McGrady, Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas, Manu Ginobili and Michael Redd.
No comeback may be more integral to a team and its immediate championship aspirations than Garnett’s. At the Celtics’ media day on Monday, Garnett, the team’s defensive leader and emotional barometer, declared himself prepared to start training camp and the regular season.
“It was pretty severe, but the best thing about it is that I got it out of the way, and my leg is almost 100 percent going forward,” Garnett said. “Better than anything, I’m playing without any pain, which is something I really haven’t had for some time now.”
He made his first public comments in six months, addressing an injury that had been clouded in mystery. Reporters crowded Garnett as he sat next to a podium before his news conference. When asked if he could understand why reporters wanted to talk to him immediately, he responded with a smile.
“Yeah, I know,” he said.
Garnett injured his knee on an alley-oop against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 19. He sat out the next 13 games before playing scant minutes in four games and missing the final nine games of the regular season.
His postseason status became a guessing game and wore on Rivers, who soon declined to address Garnett’s status. In the playoffs, the Celtics were exhausted by injuries that extended beyond Garnett. They outlasted the Chicago Bulls in a tug-of-war first-round series before succumbing to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic.
“It wasn’t pleasant,” Garnett said. “It wasn’t pleasant at all for me to watch that. At all. None of the basketball that we played last year that I had to watch was pleasant for me. I did it. I sat on the side because my teammates wanted me to sit on the bench. Other than that, it was pure excruciating.”
The bone spurs on his knee were larger than he expected, he said, although he did not address many specifics of the injury. His operation was complicated because there was concern that the removal of the spurs could damage nearby tissue.
Garnett, 33, spent the bulk of the summer rehabilitating his knee in Las Vegas with his teammate Glen Davis and resumed playing five-on-five last week. “No setbacks,” he said, knocking on the practice court’s parquet floor for luck.
Rivers said Garnett would face no restrictions when the Celtics held their first practice Tuesday. “I’m just going to throw him out there, and then I’m going to try and talk him out of some of the drills,” Rivers said.
Without Garnett, the Celtics’ championship window appeared to close a bit. Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are all in their 30s. But Danny Ainge, Boston’s president for basketball operations and general manager, propped it open for another crack at a title. He retooled the roster, signing the veteran Rasheed Wallace and bringing in Marquis Daniels and Shelden Williams.
Now, the Celtics have an apparently healthy Garnett and an empty banner that requires filling.
“It’s like riding a bike,” Garnett said of his first action since last season. “It comes back to you.”
Source: New York Times
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