Hobbled Tatum ready for action
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics cleared a major hurdle when the rookie forward ran through most of yesterday’s practice without any complications in his left knee.
Tatum had “banged” the knee in the third quarter of Thursday’s victory over Philadelphia in London, missed Saturday’s practice to get an MRI, and returned to the floor yesterday after test results came back negative.
Tatum plans to play tonight against New Orleans in the Garden.
“It feels a lot better. I just tweaked it in the game in London, and the long plane ride it got a little stiff,” said Tatum. “We had a few days off of practice, I mean, off until our next game. So they just told me to rest the other day at practice.”
Healing session
The nice part about the current four-day gap between games is that the Celtics finally have time to heal.
“Rest is relative, right? You flew to London and back. I think there’s a reason why we had a few days off before we play again,” said coach Brad Stevens. “I think we’ll all be anxious to play tomorrow and get back at it. My biggest thing is we have to keep our foot on the gas. Saturday we came in and we didn’t stop moving for 45 minutes. It was basically running the cobwebs out after the flight and then yesterday was a good day off for everybody. Today we were a little more purposeful in what we were doing.”
And in the case of Al Horford, there was also more healing time for his tender left knee.
“An extra day helped me. Monitoring it right now and it’s day-to-day,” Horford said. “Trainers have a better idea of it, but it’s not going to hold me back.”
Rondo helps out
Though Rajon Rondo has experienced a fluctuation in playing time during the last week — the former Celtics point guard only played 24 minutes in New Orleans’ overtime win over the Knicks on Sunday — he remains one of the most intriguing playmakers in the NBA.
Not only did he set a single-game career high with 25 assists on Dec. 27 against Brooklyn, he’s had eight performances with double digits in assists this season, including three of 15 or more.
“Rondo’s been good this year. He’s shooting the ball well and he is scoring off pick-and-rolls maybe even more than in the past,” Stevens said. “I think those guys draw attention and guys are recovering to them quickly and Rondo fakes it and turns the corner and does what he does. Then he’s just a guy that’s been there and he’s always made the guys around him better with his ability to pass the ball.
“He’s great at finding people in small areas. I thought he was the best passer in small areas I’ve ever seen. And those guys are benefiting from it certainly.”
When last seen in the Garden, Rondo was leading the Chicago Bulls to the first two wins of last season’s first-round series against the Celtics.
“I’ve always said that he was good here when I was here. We struggled obviously but he was hurt most of the time,” said Stevens. “He had the ACL, didn’t play until the middle of my first year, then, second year, got hurt right before training camp and missed all of training camp and then only played 20 games. I didn’t spend a ton of time with him, but he was always really good to me.”
King for the day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day always gives Stevens cause to look back on the civil rights leader’s life.
“I mean, he’s one of the most admired leaders in the history of the world. Every year at this time, the thing I always do is to review and re-look at all of my favorite speeches and quotes of his,” said Stevens. “I mean, his impact on the country was as great as anybody’s and continues to be as great as anybody’s. It’s always fun to take a step back and celebrate that today, not only as a coach, but then as a parent of an 8 and 12 year old, too, to get a chance to talk about things that are a little more important than what we are doing for a living.”