The Celtics have been struggling without their defensive and emotional leader, Kevin Garnett, since he was sidelined with a calf injury (which looked a lot worse at first glance). Garnett provides them offensive balance in the post as well as his patented defensive lunacy. He’s been expected back for about a week now, but of course the Celtics were taking it easy with him. Time’s up.
The Celtics on Twitter along with pretty much every beat writer at practice Sunday report that Garnett is set to go on Monday against the Orlando Magic. The Celtics seek to get revenge on the Magic from their Christmas Day loss, which they suffered before Garnett went down with the injury. Garnett scored 22 in that game, but Paul Pierce went scoreless in the fourth and the Magic staged a late comeback to down the defending Eastern champs.
Garnett will want to go, the question is how much he’ll be able to contribute in his first game back. Most importantly, the Celtics can’t rush Garnett. He means too much to the team’s playoff hopes as they try and win the rubber match with the Lakers (presumably) this spring.
Meanwhile, here’s a fun note. Kendrick Perkins still isn’t back and won’t be for a few weeks. But in practice, he knocked Marquis Daniels out of the session with an injury. Even when he’s not playing, Perkins is that kind of tough.
Finally, Shaq slipped on some ice walking into the facility and is day-to-day. Insert punchline here.