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Fan Friday will return after All-Star break..

Happy Friday Celtics fans. Fan Friday will be back after the All-Star break, but I'd like to do a little throwback piece on All-Star weekend. Enjoy some pics from All-Star games past including some current Boston Celtics. Video of Paul Pierce's 2010 Three-Point contest victory after the jump...

KG upgraded, Pietrus sounds optimistic for tonight

So after a bevy of disheartening injury news yesterday, there seems to be better news today on the C's injury front. 

• Kevin Garnett (hip flexor) did participate in shoot around and is being called "probable" for tonight. 
• Mickael Pietrus (right knee) said he's definitely playing tonight, but what he says and what Doc Rivers says might be a different story.  I'm thinking both these guys are game-time decisions.  
• Jermaine O'Neal (shoulder, everything else) made it through shoot-around in one piece, so he's probably a go for tonight. 

Brandon Bass was the only player not in shootaround.  He'll be out for another week, at least. 

Personally, I'm in favor of sitting KG.  Let JaJuan Johnson get the start.  I don't want to risk anything at all... especially against the Pistons.

Rose, O'Neal out today, Bass out 10 days

There are multiple reports out ther about injuries re-shaping todays game.  Here it is in a nutshell:

• Derrick Rose (back) is out today
• Jermaine O'Neal (shoulder) is out today and is day-to-day
• Brandon Bass (knee) is out at least a week, probably 10 days
• Keyon Dooling (hip) and Avery Bradley (shoulder) are active

I'm hoping Doc laid some smack down and informed the Celtics that losing to a Rose-less Bulls would re-open the "trade everyone" floodgates.  And the anti-Rondo movement lately is in overdrive.. so let's hope John Lucas doesn't have a big game or else it will get exponentially worse. 

Personally, I think you're all nuts if you think an All Star snub would derail this kid.  After all he done... playing through elbow and wrist injuries and constantly sacrificing his body... I think the treatment he gets sometimes is overboard.  He definitely deserves criticism, but for some reason with Rondo it's all-or-nothing.  

It would be nice to see a good game out of him today to end this noise. 

MRI for Jermaine, Rondo has no abnormal soreness

Here are the injury updates, courtesy ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg:

Celtics center Jermaine O'Neal missed practice Saturday to undergo a right-knee MRI and is a game-time decision for Sunday's matinee versus the Memphis Grizzlies. 

Coach Doc Rivers initially suggested that the MRI was on O'Neal's left knee and was a regularly scheduled visit to monitor the chronic injury (he also suffered a bone bruise on his left knee cap last month in the first meeting with Orlando). The team later clarified it was the right knee. 

Elsewhere on the injury front, Rajon Rondo participated in the light 45-minute session and reported no abnormal soreness with his right wrist in returning to the court Friday after missing the previous eight games. He was sporting a grisly shiner below his right eye, but said any of his struggles Friday were in no way related to the eye (which simply needed to be iced during the game to relieve puffiness after catching a stray hand from New York's Iman Shumpert). 

Keyon Dooling (right hip-pointer) participated in a second-unit walkthrough at the end of the session and Rivers suggested he's getting closer to a return. Marquis Daniels (mild right ankle sprain) did not engage in any activity, which would make him doubtful for Sunday's game. 

"Keyon is close, but he just can’t breakthrough," said Rivers. "We thought he’d be back a couple games ago and he did some stuff and got sore again, so we just don’t know." 

I'm pretty sure Jermaine O'Neal is going to have full-body MRIs every week.

As for Rajon Rondo, he elaborated on his lack of basketball activity since the injury. Yesterday was the first time he shot a basketball since getting hurt. He hopes to ditch the wrist brace in the next game or two.

Jermaine will play tonight, Rondo will not

The Herald reports Jermaine O'Neal will play after going through morning shootaround today. But...

Doc Rivers said moments ago at the Celts’ morning shootaround here that Rajon Rondo will remain out with a sprained right wrist. But he added the point guard could be back tomorrow against Toronto or Friday agaist New York.

So still no Rondo.  I assume Jermaine would be starting.

I will be curious to see how the Celtics adjust to Kyrie Irving.

Your Morning Dump... Where Blake Griffin destroyed Perk last night

 

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump. 

It's the timing.  It's the timing of the play, it's the timing of when I got the pass, the late rotation.  If all that comes together at the right time, those things happen.  It's not like I caught the ball and said "let's go make something happen."  It just came together like that.

ESPN LA: Blake Griffin on Dunk

Well, it happens.  At the end of the day, if you're a shot blocker, you're gonna get dunked on.  It was a great play.  I mean, obviously I wish I wasn't in it, but it was a great play.

ESPN LA:  Video: Kendrick Perkins on Griffin's dunk

This was pretty sick.  But I gotta give Perk credit.  Everyone's comparing it to the dunk on Timofey Mozgov, but Mozgov just stood there.  At least Per tried to challenge the dunk.  He went down fighting.

But make no mistake about it... Perk got destroyed by Blake last night.  That was... wow.

On Page 2: Rondo, O'Neal travel to Cleveland

Jermaine O'Neal may join Ray & Rondo on the bench

Twitter / @gwashburn14: Rondo and Ray Allen are ou ... via kwout

Jermaine did a decent job of bodying up Dwight Howard.  Without Jermaine, the job will go to either Brandon Bass or Greg Stiemsma.  Personally, I just throw Stiemer out there to the Wolves.  We need Bass' offense off the bench.  And hey, maybe the kid can block a couple of Dwight's shots while he's racking up his 6 fouls.  

Better keep JaJuan Johnson active tonight too.. we'll need those 6 fouls too.  Throw Wilcox in the mix and there's 18 fouls right there.  USE 'EM ALL!!!

I'll be interested to see how Doc uses Dooling.  I assume he'll come off the bench to try to run that second unit.

Celtics-Magic photo gallery

Here are some photos from last night's Celtics-Magic game. We start with a J.O. vs DHo GIF. More photos after the jump..

 

Jermaine wants us to forget his crappy offensive play

Jermaine O'Neal is a bit tired with reporters/analysts/fans/bloggers criticizing him for a lack of offensive production. i.e., missing wide open lay-ups.

Here's my response to Jermaine's whiny comments following Monday's game vs OKC.

Hey Jermaine,

I think you have received a pass from the media and fans for the wretched offensive play. Most criticism has been directed at the team or KG. But since you brought it up...

No one expects you to score more than 5 points per game. We understand your role is to play defense and rebound, but thanks anyway for the condescending words.

When you get shots within the flow of the offense that are 1) open and 2) within 5-10 feet of the rim, I'm going to expect you to make that shot. Is that such a ridiculous demand?

You are shooting 39%. A horrible number for a big man who lives 10 feet from the hoop.

Instead of insulting us by insinuating we don't know your role, how about working a little harder after practice on the bunnies? 

Warmest regards,

Anonymous blogger

VIDEO: JO's Defensive Highlights vs Pacers

While he's clearly on the back nine of his career (ok maybe even the 19th hole at this point), Jermaine O'Neal can still provide solid defense for the Celtics.  The "STAHHT THE STIEMROLLAAAHH" bandwagon may be gaining members by the hour, but JO reminded us all again on Friday night that when healthy and engaged, his defensive value in the middle to this team is invaluable. 

Check out the highlights below for his efforts, including one sequence (around the 0:32 mark) where he blocks Tyler Hansbrough, then gets back in the play to take a charge on George Hill.  Amazingly, JO didn't get credit for a block on that play.  The final box score credits him for 4 blocks, when if you watch this video he has 5.  The official game log credits Hansbrough as getting an offensive rebound on that play.