OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kevin Garnett will return to the Celtics lineup tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder after missing the last two games because of a personal family matter.
Jermaine O'Neal, who injured his wrist Monday against the Mavs, will not play tonight, nor will Chris Wilcox, who is suffering from a groin injury.
That leaves the C's extremely thin in the frontcourt against one of the NBA's top teams.
"It is what it is," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "Everyone is going to get a check tonight. It's not like we're just going to play those guys. We just have to come and play."
Any hope the Celtics have of winning, will require more from everyone - including Garnett.
Rivers has limited Garnett's minutes throughout the season, going with a '5-5-5' plan in terms of distributing his minutes into three separate five-minute bursts.
But that plan, Rivers said, will be slightly altered tonight.
"We'll up his minutes by five minutes," Rivers said. "He's usually at 30. Today he'll play 35."
Those added five minutes don't worry Rivers too much.
It's the time he's on the bench that worries him.
"For 13 minutes, he'll be off the floor and somebody else will have to do something," Rivers said.
More to come . . .
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