Kevin Garnett could be returning for the Boston Celtics as early as this week, and this good news could not have come sooner.  The Celtics have lost two in a row and seven of their last eleven games.  They are 27-12 on the season, so over half of their losses this season have come in the past eleven games.  Garnett has been out nine of those eleven games, not playing since December 28th after hyper-extending his knee, and the Celtics have gone 5-4 without him.  Good news for the Celtics is that Garnett practiced yesterday and plans to return on Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers.  Garnett is averaging 15.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks this season.  He is also their vocal leader and anchor on defense, so Garnett has some major intangibles for the Celtics that can’t be measured on stat-sheets.  Garnett has been battling knee problems for the past few seasons after having a relatively injury free career, and hopefully for his and the Celtics’ sake it doesn’t continue.  Garnett is only 33, but since he came into the league as an 18-year-old he has already logged 1,084 games and over 4,500 minutes in his 14-year career, so these knee problems may not go away.