C's prepare for playoffs despite flu affliction

By Marc D'Amico
April 16, 2010
Celtics.com

WALTHAM, MA - What seemed like a minor bug afflicting only one player has suddenly become a sizeable issue for the Boston Celtics heading into their First Round playoff matchup with the Miami Heat.

Tony Allen, who missed the final two games of the regular season due to the flu, was back on the practice court today, but two of his teammates are now suffering with similar symptoms.

The position where Boston has its largest advantage in this series may take a hit Saturday night, as Rajon Rondo has been dealing with the sickness and may not be at full strength for Game 1. Rondo participated in today's film session and also in a short walk-thru, but the training staff and coaches took him off the floor at that point in order to rest him and treat him. Rivers is unsure of how his point guard will feel tomorrow night physically, but he stated that Rondo will be on the court for the opening tip.

Glen Davis has also been sick since Wednesday night's season finale against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he was dressed and on the court today. Davis' level of participation during practice was unknown, but Rivers made it sound as if the power forward hadn't done much physical activity since Wednesday's game.

As many teams learn each season, when one player gets sick, it's going to spread quickly. Rivers said today that despite the team's precautions, there's not a whole lot they can do to prevent that from happening.

"All of the hand washing and all of that stuff, none of that stuff has worked with our team so far..." said Rivers. "They fly together, they live together for the most part, so there's not a lot you can do about it. "

The good news for the C's, though, is that both Rondo and Davis are expected to be on the court for Game 1, giving Boston a fully healthy roster heading into the playoffs.

The Celtics will need everyone at their disposal to slow down this red-hot Heat team, which has won 12 of its last 13 games. Dwyane Wade, per usual, has been the star of that run, and the Celtics know they'll have their hands full when attempting to slow him down.

"We were doing our individual breakdown with all of the guys and the Wade segment clearly took a little longer than usual, and guys were saying you've gotta do this and you've gotta do this," Rivers said. "(Then) the point was made: if it was easy, you know, he wouldn't be Dwyane Wade."

But no matter how great Wade is, there's still going to be four other Heat players on the court with him, and five while he's getting a breather. Rasheed Wallace and his teammates know that they can't be lulled to sleep by the notion that Wade is the only player they'll need to worry about.

"Now everybody's saying there's more than D-Wade, but before everybody was saying it was only D-Wade and everybody else needed to step up," Wallace said after Friday's practice. "We respect them as basketball players, period. Those guys are great athletes. We know that their main focal point is D-Wade, but that's not saying the other guys can't play. We already knew they could play."

One of those players is Michael Beasley, and Kevin Garnett gave the second year power forward some praise this afternoon.

"Beasley is one of the more difficult matchups in this league," Garnett said of Beasley. "Obviously he's left-handed, but he can go right-handed. He finishes strong. He's powerful. He has the youth element on his side, but at the same time he's aggressive."

Garnett and his teammates know that Wade, Beasley and the rest of the Miami crew will not be an easy one to take down, but the Celtics seem to be geared up to make another deep playoff run.

This opening round series will be a very interesting one, one that could be highly competitive or relatively dull, depending on which Celtics team shows up. Will it be the one that these players and coaches believe can win an NBA championship? Or will it be the one that played .500 basketball over the final 54 games of the season?

The Celtics are confident that the pieces are in place to be the former, and Paul Pierce conveyed that thought well today by rattling off a list of reasons why the rest of the NBA should take notice of the C's in the postseason.

As Pierce put it: "I think we have great depth. We've been together. We've got the chemistry. We've got the know-how. We've got the experience. We've got all of the qualities we need to win the championship."

We all know that for a fact, because the core of this team has already won a championship together. Hopefully Saturday night will prove Pierce's words true and the Celtics will have the first of 16 wins under their belt en route to another trophy-raising celebration.