Without Garnett, Bulls still wary of defending champs
The Bulls were definitely bumming as they left the locker room late Wednesday night, having failed to lock up the No. 6 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
But the next morning brought an interesting news jolt: Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers expects Kevin Garnett not only to miss the first-round playoff series against the Bulls, but possibly the entire postseason.
"He's out. It's not official, but it's official as far as I'm concerned," Rivers said Thursday. "We're moving on without him."
The Bulls faced Boston without Garnett once this season and won 127-121 on March 17 at the United Center. Knowing that Atlanta pushed a full-strength Celtics team to seven games last year in the first round, this should give the Bulls a little more confidence heading into Saturday's Game 1 at the TD Banknorth Garden.
"It gives us a little confidence but we still have to play," rookie guard Derrick Rose said. "Knowing him, he'll play if his leg is broken. We still have to think he's going to play."
Teammate John Salmons shared the feelings of skepticism on Thursday at the Berto Center.
"I'll believe that when I see it," Salmons said. "Ask me that after we play them. I'm not buying that."
Sure, it's always possible things could change. Rivers said Garnett was moving better a week ago. But Garnett has missed 22 of 26 games since limping off the court with a right knee injury in Utah on Feb. 19. So it's not like this came from nowhere. A few days ago, the Celtics announced that Garnett would return for the final game of the regular season, then reneged.
Rivers told the Boston media that he watched Garnett run on Thursday morning and came to a quick conclusion. According to one report, a swollen popliteus tendon is the main problem, but Garnett is also planning to have a bone spur removed from his knee this summer.
"You could see his face, and he was trying to mask that there was so much pain, but then he had to stop," Rivers said. "You can't mask that. The medical staff will continue to do their treatment, but right now this is it."
Without Garnett, the Celtics will turn to Glen Davis and Leon Powe to fill the power forward role. When the Bulls beat Boston on March 17, Davis was out with a sprained ankle and Powe suffered a knee injury four minutes into the contest. Davis was back for the next game, while Powe didn't return until Tuesday.
The Celtics (62-20) went 18-7 without Garnett this season, so the defending NBA champs have had success in this scenario.
"Whenever you take a player like that out, you're just not going to be as good," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Talent is talent. They're a different team no question. But they're still very potent. They won over 60 games and probably would've won close to 70 if he was healthy."
Even with Garnett on the sideline, the Bulls are still heavy underdogs in this series. They did finish the season with 12 wins in their last 16 games, although it ended ugly with a 109-98 home loss to Toronto on Wednesday.
"Everybody knows it's a great team," Salmons said. "They're the defending champions, so we've definitely got a tough series ahead. But we're confident in ourselves.
"Nobody's going into the game thinking that we're going to lose the series. Everybody is going into this series thinking we've got a great chance to win. If we play our style of basketball, we'll give ourselves a chance."
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=287118">Bulls will need a healthy Salmons against Celtics <span class="date"> [4/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287119">What does it mean if Kevin Garnett doesn't play?<span class="date"> [4/17/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>