IF THE STARS ALIGN...
C’s fine with (healthy) Irving playing Sunday
Kyrie Irving is going to Charlotte. He has to, said Danny Ainge. But the Celtics All-Star won’t be going alone.
Celts physical therapist Brian Dolan and Irving’s personal trainer Robin Pound will be there to continue the guard’s rehab program from the strained right knee he suffered in last Saturday’s loss to the Clippers.
And as for the issue of whether Irving, elected as a starter, might play in the Sunday extravaganza after sitting out Tuesday in Philadelphia and Wednesday at the Garden against Detroit, well, Ainge, Brad Stevens and his teammates don’t see it as an issue at all.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do, but I think Kyrie is very, very close (to a return),” Ainge said. “Honestly, I don’t really have any preference at all for what he does. I understand how he could actually benefit from having a really good workout.
“He has to go to the All-Star Game whether he plays or not, because he’s got responsibilities as a coach in the Rising Stars Game and he’s got some other things going on there. So, I mean, he’s going to be in Charlotte anyway, and if he can use a Sunday exhibition game as a good workout leading into next week, I think it could be a non-health risk workout that’s better than our own practice that we’re going to have on Wednesday (in Milwaukee).
“And this is all if he’s healthy,” Ainge continued. “I totally trust Kyrie that he will not play if he’s not healthy. I have all the trust in him in his decisions on that. Like, he would only do it if he’s 100 percent healthy.
“And he’ll have a physical therapist and a trainer with him the whole week in Charlotte working out. So he’ll be getting treated, and those guys will take really good care of him. So I don’t worry about whatever he wants to do. I don’t really care, because I know he’ll be doing what’s best physically.”
Brad Stevens fairly shrugged the matter off.
“I haven’t put much thought into it, but he’s been day to day. I think that there would be a chance, if we played Friday or Saturday, that he’d be cleared,” the coach said. “And I guess my thought would be is if he would have been cleared for us on Friday or Saturday, then he should probably play. If there’s any issues at all and you’re not 110 percent, I would not play. And the reason I say that is because you’re going to have to get some basketball activity in regardless. You need to get up and down the court. We can’t do anything, per NBA rules, until mid-next week when we get back together. So, to me, it makes sense, but you know, if he’s 100 percent. He’s got to be 100 percent, and I haven’t heard because I haven’t really asked. I’ve been focused on Philly and Detroit.”
Marcus Smart seemed a bit surprised by the question of whether he’d like to see Irving in the game after missing two in a row.
“If he plays, then I’ll be excited to see one of my teammates out there representing us and doing his thing,” Smart said. “I don’t see how anyone could have any problem with that.”
As for some people potentially having trouble with the optics, he said, “If he feels like his body’s healed enough to play, then he should go play. It’s not like he’s going to be playing a full NBA game. This is the All-Star Game. This is just for show. It’s entertainment. I’m sure it wouldn’t be anything stressful for him or cause him any pain.”
Having been through the All-Star blender, Al Horford has a good idea of what is and isn’t entailed.
“One of the tough parts about our sport is that we play pretty much every other day a lot of the time, and sometimes you just need one more day or two more days to feel healthy enough to play,” Horford said. “So he’ll have a few more days, and I’m sure he’ll be fine by the time the game comes around if he wants to play.
“The game isn’t the tough thing on you, it’s everything that comes with it. That’s what’s a lot more taxing, to be honest — the media, the autographs, the appearances, the community events. By the time you get to the game, that’s the easy part.”
Smart had another way of looking at it.
“At the end of the day, it’s Kyrie,” he said. “He can do whatever the (expletive) he wants. He’s his own man. We know he’ll do what’s best.”