CELTICS’ GARNETT COULD MISS ENTIRE POSTSEASON

When the Boston Celtics announced that they were going to ‘shut down’ Kevin Garnett for the rest of the regular season, the team and their fans definitely harbored the same fears that his injury might be more severe than anyone was letting on.  Now, those fears have become reality.  On Thursday, Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers informed the media that not only would ‘KG’ not be ready for the team’s first round series against the Chicago Bulls but that there was a very good chance that he’d miss the playoffs altogether.

The Celtics have been vague about the nature of Garnett’s knee injury, describing it only as a ‘strained tendon’.  On Friday, Rivers also indicated that Garnett is suffering from a bone spur in his knee, though suggested that it’s unrelated to the aforementioned tendon straight.  That’s starting to not pass the ‘smell test’, however, as his recovery has taken so long and been so arduous.  Garnett originally injured the knee on February 19 in a game against the Utah Jazz.  He missed the next 13 games before returning for four games playing limited minutes.

It was at this point that the Celtics said they were ‘shutting down’ Garnett for the rest of the regular season.  At the time, Rivers spoke in fairly optimistic tones suggesting that he’d return for the final couple of regular season games to get ready for the playoffs.  That return never manifested itself, and on Thursday Rivers informed the media of the bad news, giving this grim assessment of the possibility of Garnett’s returning for the postseason:

"It's not official that he's out for the entire playoffs, but it's official as far as I'm concerned. I just don't see how. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see it."

Rivers said that after watching Garnett struggle through practice, they shut him down again after just eight minutes:

"He's done everything he could do to get back on the floor. You could tell he was trying to mask that there was pain.  I'm surprised because he looked so good last week."

Celtics’ guard Ray Allen was obviously shocked by the news:

"I'm devastated for him. This is the time of year you've been waiting for.  If you get to the last game and hoist another banner, the adversity makes it that much sweeter. We've got to find that formula. So we look forward to it."

Paul Pierce, meanwhile, underscored the importance of Garnett’s leadership:

"He's the unquestioned leader of the ballclub. He can help us just by being on the bench. The type of competitiveness that he has, I'm sure it's eating at him."

Garnett left the facility without talking to reporters.  It was a doubly rough day for the franchise as GM Danny Ainge suffered what is being described as a ‘minor heart attack’.  As has become their apparent M.O., the team was also vague about Ainge’s condition issuing the following statement:

"Danny Ainge is recovering at Massachusetts General Hospital after having a minor heart attack. He is recovering nicely. Mr. Ainge is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days."

The Celtics will host the Bulls in Game 1 of their opening round series on Saturday afternoon, with the second game back at the TD BankNorth Garden on Monday.  The series shifts to Chicago for the next two games on Thursday.