North Station Sports

Image Courtesy of the Sun Blog

We have been keeping tabs on Glen Davis’ injury since the start of the season. Recently the coverage shifted to Marquis Daniels who had sudden hand surgery. Both injuries were manageable and, given the depth of this Celtics squad, not considered detrimental to the team’s success.

As I glance over my Google reader this morning and, more dramatically, the front page of North Station Sports (NSS), the Celtics suddenly do not look quite so deep.

Tuesday evening, Kevin Garnett sat out the Celtics 103-94, comeback victory against the Pacers. Suffering from a deep right thigh bruise, Garnett is a game time decision for Friday’s, Christmas Day show-down with the Magic. KG was replaced by Rasheed Wallace in the line-up against Tuesday. Rasheed chipped in with 9 points and 13 rebounds. ‘Sheed would not be immune to the injury bug suddenly swirling around the Celtics locker room. During the fourth quarter, Wallace would suffer a shoulder bruise. His injury is not expected to be serious and Wallace finished the game with 36 minutes– a season high.

Paul Pierce had an exceptional late-game performance on Tuesday night, easing the blow of another, overall, poor shooting night (4-15).

Recently, North Station Sports (NSS) dissected Pierce’s struggles and speculated over whether Pierce may be fatigued or hiding an injury. After starting the season hot, Pierce cooled down to 39 percent shooting the last 10 games, averaging just 15.6 ppg. This may be purely coincidental, as the captain complained of no pain prior to reporting to the hospital Wednesday morning with swelling and discomfort in his knee.

From the Boston Globe:

“Paul felt fine after the game,’’ said president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “He felt great. A few hours later there was swelling and pain, and so they put him through some tests [yesterday] morning. Then they went in and they felt like they needed to clean out the infection. It’s nothing structural, and it’s a guess, but they are saying two weeks. I’m always worried when a player gets hurt, but the good news is there was no structural [damage].’’

So, What Does The Captain’s Injury Mean For His Crew?

Since the 2008 championship team was assembled, the Celtics have no real idea of life would be like without Paul Pierce in the line-up. The Captain has played, no less then, 80 games the last two seasons. He led the team to a 62-20 record last season with injuries breaking down several key players.

Pierce has always been the Celts go-to-guy. When the team is struggling offensively, Pierce is the guy coach Doc Rivers calls upon to settle the game down. How many times have we seen a play at the top of the key for Paul to either hit an elbow jumper, draw a foul or hit an open player, in the closing minutes of tight games? As predictable as it may be, it rarely fails to create winning options, as seen when Big Baby nailed the 17 footer in the semi’s last season against Orlando or when KG hit his jump-start 20 footer to beat the Knicks several week’s ago.

Pierce creates options and is the only member of the Big Three who can, at this point in their career, still create his own shot. He is the number one offensive option and the undisputed leader of this squad and now he is out for two weeks. What does this mean for the rotations?

Bill Walker was called up from Portland to ease some of the key minutes lost by Pierce’s injury. I have always been a fan of Walker and am looking forward to the exciting and explosive player getting some quality minutes.

Ray Allen, the lone healthy player (and oldest) of the Big Three, will see a larger role in the primary offense. Allen has, for the first time since joining the Celtics, shown a renaissance in his game off the dribble. Combine Ray Ray’s reestablished ability to get the bucket with his legendary perimeter shooting stroke, makes him the guy that may benefit from Pierce’s injury with the biggest spike in scoring. Ironically, Allen had been the one member of the Big Three who, over the course of three seasons, has had the hardest time adjusting to finding productivity within an offense that rarely runs plays for him.

Big Baby Davis, who is to travel with the team to Orlando and then out west, may see a return to action sooner than originally expected.

The Celtics record in Pierce’s absence is strictly based upon the health of KG and Wallace, the return of Big Baby, recovery of Daniels and the team’s bench players’ ability to rise to the occasion, absorbing some of the loss left void by the Pierce injury. The team that looked to be one of the deepest entering the season now looks to be fragile and cracking. The loss of Davis and Daniels could be considered manageable damage but Pierce and KG or either one of them for an extended game-period would be a loss greater then words can describe.

I currently have seven more day’s before my New Year’s resolution of being more positive minded takes effect. Until then, I am afraid to say that the loss of Paul Pierce leaves the Celtics with a half empty glass.