Celtics went into Wednesday night against the Hawks with only nine available players.
Keith Bogans continues to earn a paycheck while sitting at home (hang in there bud), and Vitor Faverani missed his 12th straight game, nursing a knee injury.
You can add Kelly Olynyk as the latest victim to catch the injury bug with a sprained toe, which he apparently suffered this past Saturday against the Kings.
He could have fooled us when he scored 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out four assists in 28 minutes off the bench Monday night versus the Jazz. Word got out two days ago that he would not suit up against Atlanta. Brad Stevens confirmed Olynyk would miss some time.
“He’s going to be in a boot for at least the next couple days,” said Stevens, “Olynyk probably won’t play Saturday against Indiana.” [Boston Herald]
Starting big man Jared Sullinger suffered a mild concussion late in Friday night’s lost to the Lakers. It apparently happened when he took an elbow to the head from Chris Kaman. It is currently unknown when he will make his way back, as he is going through what the NBA calls a ‘Return to Participation Protocol’.
All players with concussions have to pass a series of stages. With each stage, the player would have to be symptom-free before progressing to the next. Once all stages are complete, the player will be cleared to return to the court.
“Thursday is a big conditioning day for Sullinger,” Stevens said. “Friday is practice, full contact. And Saturday, the progression would be that he will be cleared to play. He’s done what he’s needed to do up to this point. We are bringing him back at the right pace.” [CSNNE.com]
Sully has missed the last two games and in the four games he has missed overall, they have all resulted in a Celtics loss. But the second-year forward is not rushing anything when it comes to type of injury.
“This is how it is with concussions; just waiting patiently,” Sullinger said. “Everything’s going pretty much how it’s suppose to.” [CSNNE.com]
Avery Bradley continues to wait for the green light before re-joining his teammates, as he is being cautious with his ankle sprain. AB has missed seven straight games and 13 of the last 16. The fourth-year guard is trying to battle to not only get back onto the court as soon as possible but also avoid that ‘injury prone’ tag in the process. It seems like every season he deals with an ailment that has forced him to sit out.
“It’s been very frustrating, to not be able to be there with my team,” said Bradley. “Having another setback, another year…it’s been hard on me. But all I can do is try to get better as soon as possible.” [CSNNE.com]
When Bradley originally suffered the right ankle sprain, he was out for five games. Even though he was still experiencing soreness, he returned only to re-aggravate the injury. The Celtics decided to be more patient and shut him down without giving an exact healing time, that forced him to miss the four-game, west coast road trip. Even now there is still no set timetable and Avery’s return is still pending.
“We don’t want it irritating any more and go back to where I started from,” Bradley said. We’re just taking our time and letting everything calm down.” [CSNNE.com]
Despite the Celtics picking up an impressive win Wednesday night, with an interesting starting lineup of Rondo and Bayless in the back court, it’s clear there might be time to make one more signing until the ‘sick’ return. Names that have been discussed in the last few days to bring in include back-up point guard Rodrigue Beaubois who Boston worked out Wednesday, and reports indicated he had a ‘strong showing’.
And Chris Babb, another guard who was the last player the Celtics cut in training camp. Either one could make a big impact right away, but for the right price. Rondo is still not playing on the second night of back-to-back nights and Danny does not have much money to spend cap wise.
“This is basketball,” said forward Gerald Wallace. “Injuries are starting to add up.It’s just unfortunate that we were already kind of shorthanded from the start and now it’s happening to a lot of our key guys, which is unusual. We have guys who have to fill in and kind of make up for it.” [Boston Globe]
Well ‘Crash,’ help is on the way
Joel Pavón
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