After Kevin Garnett limped off the court in Wednesday night’s game against the Pistons, an MRI scan confirmed that KG’s injury is a strained right calf muscle and would take him out of the game for at least a couple of weeks.
The injury, according to Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge during an interview on sports radio WEEI Thursday afternoon, is not related to KG’s surgically repaired knee; an injury that occurred in February of 2009, during a game against the Utah Jazz. Ainge made it clear that the strained calf muscle was not a preexisting injury and KG will be able to recover from it soon.
But what does this mean for the C’s now? In order to keep their high performance consistent and their team in top shape, they cannot afford small injuries like this. Not two weeks ago, Rajon Rondo sprained his left ankle during a December 15th game against the Knicks and missed the following six games.
With the possibility of KG being out for the next two weeks and Rondo’s status still somewhat unknown, the C’s are going to have to rely on players with lower minutes than the starters the team relies on. Ainge mentioned that, “…We need Avery and Von [Wafer] and Luke [Harangody] to step up and contribute.” Bradley, Harangody, and Wafer are all players with less than 10 minutes of average game time and less than two points apiece. More importantly, it’ll be the job of Nate Robinson to take Rondo’s place until he recovers.
What can be certain for the Celtics though is their standing in the league. They are still seven games ahead of the Knicks in the Atlantic Division and a commanding 13-1 record at home, which they are hoping to hold on to with tonight’s game against the Hornets at the Garden. But until KG recovers, fans can only hope that the C’s can hold onto their 24-6 record and pray that Rondo comes back in.