The Celtics will be without starting small forward Paul Pierce for a while due to a sprained foot. The Celtics are actually glad that it was just a sprain as many were reporting that he broke his foot. Pierce has played in 41 games (all starts) for the Celtics this season and he is averaging 35.7 minutes, 18.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The one area the Celtics will really miss him while he is out is his three point shooting (46.7%) which can’t be replaced.

The Boston Celtics’ star power forward Kevin Garnett has not been himself this season due to a problematic knee.  He has missed 16 games because of his ailing knee and returned to play on January 22nd.  Garnett has not looked himself since his return and the Celtics’ recent struggles has a lot to do with an unhealthy Garnett.  Since his return, Garnett has played in six games and is averaging 13.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 32 minutes per game.  Garnett has a very good mid-range jumper, so he is still shooting at a very good percentage during those games (53%), but he has been very gingerly on that knee and is obviously hobbled by it.  He has not been aggressively taking it to the rack and is relying too heavily on that jumper.  His knee has limited most on the defensive end of the court.  Once the key part of a great Celtics’ defense, Garnett is almost a liability on defense now.  He doesn’t have the strength, quickness, and lift that we have grown accustomed to seeing from KG and if his knee does not get better soon the Celtics are not going to get far in the Eastern Conference playoffs.  Many believe the Celtics should sit Garnett out for a couple of weeks and let his knee heal.  I think they should keep Garnett in the lineup, as KG at 80% can still contribute.  Playing can also actually help strengthen his knee as long as he is not risking further injury.  They should definitely limit his minutes though since they don’t want KG to break down before or when the playoffs start.  Around 20-25 minutes per game would be better than the 30-35 minutes they are playing him now.

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.

The Celtics will be without starting small forward Paul Pierce for the next couple of weeks due to a infection in his left knee. Pierce has played in 27 games (all starts) this season for the Celtics and he is averaging 35.4 minutes, 18.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The Celtics have a deep team and they should be able to get by for a couple of weeks without their leading scorer.

The Celtics have lost back-up SG/SF Marquis Daniels for the next 6-8 weeks due to thumb surgery. Daniels has played in 19 games (0 starts) for the Celtics this season and he is averaging 20.4 minutes, 5.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Maybe the Celtics will get Tony Allen out of the mothballs and get him some court time now. Allen has only played in 1 game for the Celtics this season playing in six minutes in which he has not scored. He does have 1 rebound and 1 assist on the year. The Celtics should be able to handle being without Daniels as they have a really deep basketball team.