Ugh.
Already without Rajon Rondo for the rest of this season, the Celtics had been counting on more from Leandro Barbosa off the bench. But late in the third quarter he went to the ground with what looked like a pretty bad knee injury.
The MRI will be tomorrow, but nobody seems optimistic, reports A. Sherrod Blakely at CSNNE.com.The severity of the injury is unclear, but it certainly had the look of an injury that will sideline the veteran for a significantly long period of time - maybe even the entire season.
The injury was severe enough to where Barbosa could not get up on his own when it happened. Instead he had to be helped off the floor by teammate and fellow native of Brazil, Fab Melo, along with team trainer Ed Lacerte....
“It’s not looking great,” (Celtics coach Doc) Rivers said of Barbosa’s injury. “But we’ll see.”
The Celtics lost Rondo and Jared Sullinger for the season — for a team with an older core it has been the younger guys suffering the major injuries. But if that ends up meaning more minutes for the vets down the stretch, that would not be ideal heading into the playoffs.
This may make the Celtics more active at the trade deadline, not moving major parts but looking for a point guard to give them depth the rest of the season and into the playoffs.