It hasn't gone so well. With a loss to the Rockets at home on Monday night, the Celtics slid to 4-4 in the eight games since KG went down two weeks ago in Detroit. The Celtics have the talent to be much better than a .500 team, even with their injuries, but remember — they were .500 when injured last season, too. They went 27-27 after Christmas.
The Celtics will probably snap out of this funk pretty quickly when Garnett returns, but in the games leading up to KG's comeback, they've simply treaded water.
Here's what we've learned about them.
1. The most impressive thing about the Celtics' 105-103 win over the Spurs last Wednesday was the ridiculous stat line of Rajon Rondo — 12 points, 22 assists and 10 rebounds, for the sixth triple-double of his career. What's even better is that it's the second game this season where Rondo's recorded a triple-double with 20-plus assists, as he dropped a 10-24-10 stat line on the Knicks on Oct. 28. Rondo is the only active player in the NBA to have a game of 10-20-10 or better, and he's tied with Isiah Thomas for the all-time record of 24 assists in a triple-double.
2. When asked about the confident shooting of rookie Luke Harangody (17 points) in the Celtics' win Friday over the Raptors, C's coach Doc Rivers said he wasn't surprised, because Harangody did it for four years at Notre Dame. And boy, did he ever. If you've never seen Harangody's college resume, then take a gander sometime and you'll be impressed. Harangody had 2,476 points and 1,222 rebounds in four years with the Fighting Irish, both second in team history, and he was twice an All-American and three times All-Big East. Not too shabby.
3. Cool factoid about Friday's win — it was the 3,000th in Celtics history, making the C's the second in NBA history to reach that milestone. They're now 3,000-2,040 all-time for a winning percentage of .595. The first team ever to reach 3,000 was of course the Lakers, who did it last year and now sit at 3,054; the next will probably be either the Sixers (currently at 2,584) or the Knicks (2,504). Three thousand games is a lot of games — it's a feat that reflects not only greatness, but also incredible longevity.
4. The dazzling play of Derrick Rose on Saturday night in Chicago (10-of-19 shooting, 15-of-19 from the free-throw line for 36 points) was something to behold for Celtics fans, who aren't exactly used to seeing one player absolutely kill their championship-caliber defense like that. But Rose's performance is far from unparalleled this season — the Bulls' guard is the fifth player to score 30-plus against the Celtics this season. The other four? Amare Stoudemire (39), LeBron James (35 and 31), Kevin Durant (34) and Russell Westbrook (31). Moral: Only the NBA's biggest superstars are capable of dominating the C's.
5. Nate Robinson might be a three-time Slam Dunk Contest champion, including the last two, but he's not shy about saying that he's done with competitive dunking. The "retired" champion told NBA.com in Chicago on Saturday that now that he's gone, the contest is "all set up" for Clippers star Blake Griffin, with a pack of inferior candidates matched up with him to ensure an easy win. Of the 6-foot-1 Brandon Jennings, Robinson said: "I've never seen him dunk."
6. A couple of months ago, Delonte West and Von Wafer came to blows; last week, they both went to the GM's office to sign contract extensions. Both reserve guards were brought in on non-guaranteed contracts this summer, and both announced last week that they were happy to be retained by the Celtics for the rest of this season. West is now guaranteed to make his full $1,069,509 this year, the minimum salary for a six-year veteran; Wafer will make $992,680, the league minimum for a five-year vet. Not too bad for two guys who were unemployed for a good chunk of this summer.
7. Kevin Garnett may not be back on the court yet, but he's been actively traveling with the team. KG wrote on his blog that he made the trip with the Celtics to Chicago, and he was back in the workout room at the United Center hoping to play. Then, on Monday, Rivers said that KG was present for the Celtics' shootaround Monday morning in Waltham, Mass., before the evening's game.
Garnett may not be back in action yet, but he's itching to be. It's only a matter of time before KG goes from "around the team" to "back on the team." It may happen Wednesday night, when the C's take on the Kings. Just you wait.
