Whew!

Time for a sportswriter cliche: That sound you heard today was the entire city of Boston letting out its collective breath.

Boston media are reporting a two-to-three week break for Kevin Garnett. I can live with that, even though it means he won't be on the floor when RwH sees the Celtics take on the Los Angeles Clippers in person on Wednesday. In addition to the rest of the road trip, Garnett may also miss home games against Cleveland (March 6) and Orlando (March 8), two games that may well have big implications on the race for home-court advantage in the East. We're currently 1-1 against the Cavs and 2-0 against the Magic this season, and we face them each on the road later in the season. The tiebreaker for homecourt is head-to-head record, so these games are especially important if we finish up the season tied with either of them in the standings.

Regardless, sitting KG is the right thing to do; home court is nice, but not as important as having a healthy Garnett for the playoffs. Danny Ainge is saying that this won't speed up the team's attempt to add a big man. I get the sense that we're waiting on Mikki Moore to see if Joe Smith becomes available. I suppose that's the smart thing to do, but it's important that we not miss the boat on both of them, and especially with Garnett out, the sooner, the better. If we can avoid these next few weeks being a total washout, we should.

VIEWING ALERT: Next game is Sunday in Phoenix at 2:30 Eastern on ABC. No Garnett for us, and no Amar'e Stoudemire for Phoenix, who may be out for the rest of the season with an eye injury. Even without Amar'e, however, the Suns put up 140 points in a Friday win over Oklahoma City, the third straight game they've reached that impressive milestone. That streak coincides with the firing of first-year head coach Terry Porter. Assistant Alvin Gentry took over for Porter and re-installed the up-tempo offense that the Suns had so much success with under Mike D'Antoni, and for whatever reason, it's clearly working.

Our last game against Phoenix was a very comfortable Boston win in which Kendrick Perkins did not play. Garnett did a great job on Shaquille O'Neal and Brian Scalabrine, of all people, actually outscored Stoudemire while starting in Perk's stead. With KG out, keeping Perkins out of foul trouble as he matches up with O'Neal is imperative.