Post by FLCeltsFan on Apr 22, 2009 8:54:25 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1167238&format=text
Leon Powe’s knee injury ends season
By Mark Murphy | Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics
Photo by Matt Stone
The Celtics [team stats], in their quest to get healthy, instead are receding.
The latest blow not only has dented their playoff rotation, but also inflamed sentiment for a player who fought through reconstructive surgery on both knees to reach the NBA.
Now, as a result of twisting his left knee during the C’s win against Chicago in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series, Leon Powe is out for the year.
The Celtics forward will have surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee, though a date has not been scheduled. Powe had two major knee surgeries - one on each knee - while attending the University of California.
Most recently, Powe was recovering from a strained right knee, and was wearing a heavy brace that hindered his mobility.
“Leon is obviously out for the playoffs,” said a visibly shaken Doc Rivers. “Surgery will be determined when it’s determined. Obviously that’s a tough break. I told our guys, these are days as a coach when it’s very difficult, because he does so many right things. He played three minutes with a torn ACL on the floor.
“I mean he didn’t come out - he kept playing. It says so much about Leon Powe the person. I don’t care about the playoffs and all that stuff. That’s just a tough injury for a kid who has done everything right. That just makes no sense.
“He said he was driving and it got caught. The right one’s fine. I just told him to take some quiet time to himself. He needs that right now. These are just tough circumstances.”
The Celtics, by extension, are back in a familiar bind, with only three available big men - Kendrick Perkins [stats], Glen Davis and Mikki Moore - and just one (Moore) off the bench.
Rivers said yesterday the return of forward Brian Scalabrine, who is recovering from post-concussion syndrome, still is uncertain.
He also said Powe’s departure is unlikely to affect any return by Kevin Garnett from a strained right knee, though Rivers didn’t rule out that possibility.
Until then, though, the Celtics big men face one particularly big challenge - staying out of foul trouble.
“There’s no pressure, no pressure,” Davis said. “Play the game. You’ve gotta play with what you’ve got. I know we’ve had some losses, but we can still play the game the way it has to be played, no matter what.
“We have three bigs, and we have to play. I think things happen for a reason, and we’re capable if we play smart, play with a high intensity level, and get the job done. I’m not worried about the lack of manpower. I’m just worried about going out there and getting the job done.”
Moore, in particular, has to avoid needless fouls, which has become so bad he may have developed a complex.
“I can’t say what I want to say,” he said of his treatment by referees. “They call fouls on me eating my food. But I have to play smarter. That’s one thing Doc told me.”
And he appears to be listening.
“Being on the floor,” Rivers said of Moore’s greatest challenge. “Silly fouls, we have to take them out. Mikki had a couple last night. He’s getting better. I know it doesn’t look like it at times, but today in the film room he saw certain things. Mikki is just used to playing hard, going around and just playing. Here you have to play hard and disciplined. In football terms you have to stay on your route - run your route. And that would be our team defensively. You have to run your route. You see something and you want to do something else, but we’re trying to break him of those habits.
“Defensively he has to be better. Defensively he has to hold his ground better.”
