Theis gets good news on foot injury
Just when Daniel Theis started feeling like himself after a summer of rehabilitation from knee surgery, something else went wrong.
The Celtics forward, in the process of putting together his first solid performance of the season with 17 points and eight rebounds on 7-for-9 shooting Saturday night in Detroit, felt something “pop” in the bottom of his right foot.
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The diagnosis was a partial tear of his plantar fascia — a short-term injury that, luckily for Theis, sounds far worse than it actually is.
He spoke at yesterday’s shootaround with his right foot in a therapeutic boot that for the near future will be his constant companion. The hope is that he’ll be able to return to practice once the boot is removed.
“I’m going to be in the boot for two weeks, just to keep the foot in the right position to heal. After the two weeks it will be day-by-day,” Theis said. “Two weeks in a boot and afterward I’m gonna start running and all the stuff.”
Theis was relieved by the diagnosis.
“Yes, because I felt the pop during the game, and after the game I was worried,” he said. “Everybody knows their body and when something is wrong you know it. The night was tough, but the next day the doc called me and said partial tear, it was really lucky, not long, so I was really relieved.
“I’m going to stay positive,” Theis added. “It will also help me after that this issue will be gone for good. I have to go back to my lifting with Armond (Lavallee) the strength coach and running, and all that stuff. Hopefully I’ll be back soon.”
Theis admits he may have suffered the injury as the result of over-compensating for his healing left knee. He also admits that Saturday night marked the first time he was playing at the same level as last season.
“Yeah. I felt like myself again,” he said. “I was able to run and jump, then this happens, but I’m going to be positive. I was positive over the seven months with my knee, and stay positive now, and keep working on my knee as well. When I come back running and shooting, I’ll stay healthy and nothing can happen again.”
More time for rookie
Theis’ absence could easily open the playing time door for Robert Williams, though the Celtics rookie would be a situational fit. As
Brad Stevens pointed out , a pairing of Williams and Aron
Baynes probably wouldn’t be such a good idea.
“We’ve got a lot of good players and certainly, at that position, I don’t see that him and Baynes will play much together. He could certainly play with Al (Horford) some, as Al shifts to the 4,” said the Celtics coach. “Baynes can play with Al some. But then again, that knocks someone else out or someone’s minutes out.
“It’s just something that, as those times come, he needs to stay the course and take advantage of his opportunities,” Stevens added. “We’re thrilled with the progress he’s made and we do think that as time goes on, he can really help us. He has a great attitude about everything and I think he’s learned a lot from Al, Baynes and Daniel. But, who knows? It could all change. He could be playing a lot by next week, knock on wood. Hopefully, we will have all of our bodies, but you never know.”
Do your job, C’s style
Jaylen Brown was admittedly pressing heading into his 19point performance in Detroit Saturday night. Then again, the entire offense was a work in progress over the same stretch.
“Our whole team has been in a lot of ways. The biggest thing has been control what you can control,” Stevens said. “He’s got a heckuva challenge the other day in spending a lot of time on
Blake (Griffin), but sometimes when you’re able to focus on that kind of task, it makes everything else come together. You’re not as focused on scoring or where your shots are going to come from, where drives are going to come from. You’re just focused on really trying to survive against a guy who had 50 last week. Those are things that are good reminders. Just go out and play as good and hard as you can, and everything else will take care of itself.”