Celtics owe it to Doc Rivers to shape up

On basketball

January 26, 2012|By Gary Washburn

Rajon Rondo (right) has gotten hurt this season, but he wasnt a player whose… (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

WINTER PARK, Fla. - As the Celtics prepared for an offday practice at Rollins College yesterday, there were more players on the sidelines getting taped, massaged, and iced than there were on the court taking jumpers.

Practice has turned into a mini-hospital ward, with ailing players attempting to salve themselves enough to participate. It is not likely this way in Oklahoma City or Indiana or Denver, where younger, fresher legs have taken less time to recover from the lockout.

Five rotation players missed Monday’s 87-56 victory over the Magic, and if Celtics coach Doc Rivers is lucky, only two will sit out tonight’s rematch in Orlando. Even Mickael Pietrus, who joined the team after taking a few weeks to rehabilitate his surgically repaired right knee, took just seven games to become one of the wounded when he sprained his shoulder against the Wizards last Sunday.

What we are learning 13 years after the last NBA lockout is that there is a mammoth difference between good physical conditioning and basketball shape. Not one Celtic reported to camp in poor shape. There were a bunch of lean guys who seemed ready to begin an abbreviated session, but the moment Rivers began five-on-five drills, it was apparent that they were not.

Paul Pierce went down with a bruised right heel. Chris Wilcox has already injured his shoulder and calf. Keyon Dooling has missed six games with a strained knee. Sasha Pavlovic sprained his left wrist. And Jermaine O’Neal has been slowed at times by sore knees.

Rivers admits his team was unprepared for the season, and that’s something he mistakenly takes responsibility for. He was not allowed contact with the players during the lockout. He could not give them workout regimens. He trusted his veteran core to report to camp not just fit, but in “basketball shape.’’

They failed him, and the Celtics haven’t resembled themselves until the past few days. Pierce shot 30 percent over a seven-game period before coming on the past two games. Kevin Garnett has labored on the court at times, and Rivers had to devise a five-minute-per-appearance plan.

Rivers said the only players to show up to Waltham prepared to start a season in 16 days were Ray Allen (no shocker there) and Rajon Rondo. The rest of the roster let the coach down because he trusted them too much.

“We were not ready to start the season, bottom line,’’ Rivers said a few days ago. “I said that in camp, you can see it. And we’re trying to get there.