Sad news tonight for the Celtics despite the win, as Delonte West broke his right wrist in the second quarter trying to brace himself. As of this writing, I don't know of a timetable for his return. However, the wire story has Doc Rivers saying it's a compound fracture. I'm not a doctor, but I think that means that Delonte's bone broke through his skin. (If you're at all squeamish, do not Google "compound fracture.") Sports announcers always say they hate to speculate, but I, as a blogger, love to speculate -- it's part of why I blog -- and I'm speculating that Delonte's season could be over. Even if it isn't, it'll be a long while before we see him in uniform again.
It's difficult to say what the effect of losing Delonte for the foreseeable future will be, given that he'd only played a few games this season and hadn't had a chance to really gel yet with the second unit. I, and everyone else, hoped that he'd become our most valuable bench player, someone to come in and organize the offense, letting Nate Robinson play off the ball while our starting backcourt sat. I hoped he'd come in and be able to defend both guard positions and knock down the three when the defense left him open. Delonte West is capable of doing all of these things. Whether or not he actually was going to do them, of course, remains an open question, but it's safe to say that this is no minor loss.
Short term, things appear bleaker than they actually are, because Rajon Rondo missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury. That leaves Robinson and rookie Avery Bradley as our only healthy point guards, though Rondo's expected back soon. Even when he does return, however, West's absence will likely mean increased minutes for our starting perimeter guys as they take turns running with the second unit -- unless Doc has unreasonable confidence in Von Wafer or uncharacteristic confidence in Bradley. The other option would be to go out and get someone, but I don't know who that someone would be.
So sad. Delonte seemed on the verge of rejuvenating his career, then breaks his wrist four and a half games into his season. (Recall that he sat out the first ten games on a suspension.) There is, of course, a big elephant in the room that I feel neither comfortable nor qualified to address -- let's just say that I hope that whatever physical therapy program awaits him, it keeps him busy. Time for the Celtics family to look after one of its own.
Touching ever-so-briefly on the game itself, Shaquille O'Neal was a monster tonight, playing better than I've seen him play in years and much better than I ever thought I'd see him play in a Celtics uniform. I'm still worried a bit about his defense, but he's really throwing his weight around on offense and his teammates have been great at finding him.
The other player who merits attention for his performance Wednesday night is Marquis Daniels. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen put this game away down the stretch -- with a surprising assist from Shaq at the free throw line -- but Daniels, pressed into extra duty due to the West and Rondo injuries and the fact that Robinson was in foul trouble, had a strong game. His stat line was modest, but he did a lot of the little things on a night where Boston couldn't find a rhythm. If he can consistently play well, it will go a long way toward easing the sting from the loss of Delonte.
No comments:
Post a Comment