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Kevin Garnett's back may be a setback to his comeback
BY Robert Lee
BOSTON – Make no mistake. Kevin Garnett is back.
Sort of.
The 6-foot-10, 253-pound, 12-time All-Star forward is fully recovered from the flu that kept him out of two games last week.
His back, well, that may be another story.
The Celtics ran their offense early and often through Garnett in Friday’s 110-100 victory over the New York Knicks. He took 12 shots in his first game back – a 110-109 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He scored 16 points and had 6 rebounds.
Against the Knicks, Garnett took 12 shots in the opening half alone. He finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists, and was involved in nearly play down the stretch less than 24 hours after sitting out the final 9:22 of the game and then overtime against the Lakers.
With the flu bug out of his system, Garnett (16.3 points, 8.9 rebounds) is tackling another problem heading into Sunday’s matchup against San Antonio.
In the third quarter on a fast break against the Knicks, Garnett was hit from behind on a dunk attempt by New York’s Al Harrington. He went sailing into a cameraman on the baseline who kneed him in the back.
Garnett spent a few moments on the floor writhing in pain while holding his lower-back before getting up and returning to the game.
"It felt like we had momentum in the game and the juices were running," Garnett told reporters after the game. "I kept it loose. I don’t think it affected me too much. I tried not to think about it. Actually it doesn’t hurt, but [Saturday] it will probably be a different story. But I’m proud of myself for finishing the game. I thought we did a pretty good job at the end of the game of making it simple."
Coach Doc Rivers gave the banged-up Celtics Saturday off. Along with Garnett’s sore back, several other Celtics are battling flu symptoms, Rivers said, including captain Paul Pierce.
Rivers said Garnett has a love for the game that is second to none, so when he found out last week that Garnett had the flu the night before the Celtics were going to face Garnett’s former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Rivers never thought Garnett would miss the game.
"I just assumed that if anybody is bigger than the flu, it’s Kevin," Rivers said.
Garnett, after all, doesn’t like to miss games. And he especially didn’t want to miss an opportunity to play against the team that drafted him fifth overall in the 1995 NBA Draft.
Garnett has only missed more than 11 games in a season once in his 14-year career.
So for Garnett to miss two games last week "shows that he [was] really sick," Rivers said.
During his absence, Garnett said it was "very tough to watch the team. Probably more than anything, it’s frustrating. I never like to miss games. I’ve always said if I can walk, I can play. It tells you what kind of days I had."
The Celtics were able to beat Minnesota and Philadelphia without him and the intensity he brings to the court, but even though Garnett played well against Los Angeles in his return, the Celtics couldn’t beat the defending Western Conference champions.
"Pretty rough couple of days for me," Garnett said afterwards. "I got in and did a little cardio and really pushed myself to a limit and went to a point where I felt comfortable. Tonight, I didn’t even think about it. Doc told me to verbally comment or let him know, to communicate to him how I felt. I felt pretty strong. My communication with my teammates was pretty strong. I had energy."
Garnett was shocked at some of the fouls that were called on him in the Lakers game.
"Assessing the game these days, I don’t know what a foul is," Garnett said. "What's an All-Star? What's a bad call or good call? I guess you go out there and just play. At times you tend to put refs in situations to make calls, and when they’re not called I guess you got to play through it."
Garnett wasn’t at full strength against L.A., but he looked like he had a lot more energy against the Knicks.
He hopes that he is back at full strength Sunday when the Celtics take on the San Antonio Spurs, but may be a game-time decision depending on how his back feels.
The Celtics certainly hope Garnett can play and play well against the Spurs, at least on the defensive end of the floor. Kendrick Perkins will need all the help he can get to contain San Antonio All-Star Tim Duncan.
