Injury woes continue for Celtics as 7 players miss practice
Caution was in the air, as the Boston Celtics Coach Doc Rivers conducted a 75 minutes practice session without the services of seven players.
Rajon Rondo (Sore Left Hamstring, feet), Shaquille O'Neal (Bruised Right Calf), Glen Davis (illness), Jermaine O'Neal (knee), Delonte West (Broken Right Wrist) and Kendrick Perkins (Right Knee Surgery) comprised a list of players,
along with Nate Robinson who were sitting this practice session out.
Most of the superstars, as the Coach put it, are ‘iffy’ for Tuesday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. When inquired from the Celtics Coach, who was named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for October/November, who
in particular from this group might be “iffy” for Wednesday's game, Doc Rivers half-joked, "Maybe all of them."
The major worry for the man in-charge of the Boston franchise, now being dubbed as ‘Illness city’, though, is their star guard Rajon Rondo. Rondo has been the back bone of the Celtics plans for quite some time now has been letting
it rip this season with an average of 11.4 points per game to go with 4.6 boards and a whooping 14.1 assists per game and is the main reason the Celtics are leading the league in assists per game.
Rivers was quite speculative about the prospect of playing Rondo in Wednesday’s match.
"I just leave it up to [trainer Ed Lacerte]," said Rivers. "[An extended break] may come at some point. I don't think it's a bad suggestion. It's been suggested already, I can tell you that. Eddie knows when it's close enough to
play.
"The injury scares me. Both the foot and the hamstring. The foot is not the problem right now, but the hamstring can go from a pull to a tear. When you get the tear, you are talking two months so it's a tough little situation."
Shaquille O’ Neal was also put on the ‘iffy’ list by the coach. The 37-year old veteran ring slammer was on the bench in the second half, last time Boston grasped the court against the New Jersey Nets. Although, O’Neal claimed
he is feeling great, the coach is definitely not in a mood to take chances.
Glen Davis has contracted high fever and although he did report to the training facility he was immediately shipped out.
Jermaine O'Neal, West and Perkins are out with long-term injuries and the best chances to play stands with Nate Robinson who left due to family issues.
"I think Nate will be back," said Rivers. "Nate had a family thing."
With Boston potentially facing a prospect of starting without these players on Wednesday, Doc Rivers decided to be creative trotting out a lineup that featured Daniels, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all spending time at the point,
trying to get them all used to potentially having to run the offense against the Denver Nuggets.
"Today, we had no Rondo, no Nate, no Glen Davis, no Delonte, no J.O. and no Shaq," said Rivers. "So it was a very difficult practice. So you've got to create a practice and we went with Marquis, Ray and Paul, at the 1, 2 and 3,
and we ran an offense for an hour with that and it's good for them because we did that already once this year [when Rondo got injured], and we may have to do it again."
Even with so many players on the sideline, the one part of the Boston ‘Big Three’, Paul Pierce was still brimming with confidence and rearing to further extend a 16-4 start.
"Well, as a young team, you make excuses -- we're injured, that's why we didn't win the game -- but with this group, it doesn't matter who we put on the court with injuries, we feel like we're going to win. We feel like we can
win. And, so, no matter who we put out on that court, we feel like we've got a great chance of winning and we don't use it as an excuse."
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